Science Projects resource

[lulalu]

Usborne Science Activities or Janice Van Cleave's books? 

For a 2nd grader who loves science. I think I am going to just get an encyclopedia and experiment book to explore what he wants. 

[Miss Tick]

There is a book called 730 Easy Science Experiments that I used with my dc around that time. The supplies were straightforward and the experiments short and to the point. Each experiment has a short explanation of the science behind it. It us really two books suck together, so be aware there are two tables of contents. One drawback is that the experiments are topical rather than being organized by scientific principles. The indices are reasonably thorough, though, so I looked up my topics there.

I'm done with my copy and looking for a good home for it. Feel free to pm me if you decide you are interested.

[rjand6more]

I have been doing tons of research on this.  

First, I thought I would buy kits(Like MSB) I LOVE the idea of it, but it would end up being SO expensive for the small amount of supplies.  I am borrowing a bunch of books from the library and going to choose my favorite and buy it.  I will collect the materials and bag them myself and put it all in a big tote by subject, page number, etc. I will even measure out stuff like baking soda, etc.  Kind of like DIY science kits. Then, my older kids (or dh) can help with the experiments. Hopefully this way they will GET DONE.  My kids love the messy experiments and I never have all the "common household items" to do them!  I have tried making lists the week before.  That just doesn't work for me.

I have a few books now(all the Usborne Activities and Van Cleave books.)  I don't like the Usborne ones because I don't like the format.  I like an experiment page to look like a recipe.  Very clear on supplies and procedure.  The Usborne books are very random.  Also, I like a science explanation.

[lulalu]

Thanks. 

 

[lulalu]

20 hours ago, SusanC said:

There is a book called 730 Easy Science Experiments that I used with my dc around that time. The supplies were straightforward and the experiments short and to the point. Each experiment has a short explanation of the science behind it. It us really two books suck together, so be aware there are two tables of contents. One drawback is that the experiments are topical rather than being organized by scientific principles. The indices are reasonably thorough, though, so I looked up my topics there.

I'm done with my copy and looking for a good home for it. Feel free to pm me if you decide you are interested.

I would LOVE to have you ship it. But I am overseas and I am sure it would be a lot for shipping......

[Sarah0000]

We checked out Astronomy Lab for Kids which was nice. I believe there is a whole series on different topics, maybe it's even the same developer as the art labs for kids ones if you're familiar with those. They are straightforward projects with basic explanations. If you're looking for actual experiments with trials, measurements, hypothesizing, scientific method stuff I don't *think* you're going to find that in any of these kind of science books. It would be nice to find a book that covered both!

[Momto6inIN]

We didn't like the Van Cleave books - the experiments were fun but there is almost no explanation of the science behind them. While I like the text portions of Usborne, the experiments rarely work well. If someone made a book that put the best of both together, it would be great! But so far I haven't found that unicorn ...