Review: TIME For Kids Big Book of Science Experiments
Reviewed by Amanda Schafer
Kids love science, but they love science experiments even more! In TIME For Kids Big Book of Science Experiments, there were so many fun things to try we hardly knew where to start. The book is broken down into four categories: Earth Science, Life Science, Physical Science, and Technology and Engineering. Each experiment is marked to indicate how much time is needed to perform that task so that the person teaching it can plan accordingly.
Most of the experiments utilize basic items that can be found around the house or can be obtained at a relatively low cost to the reader. The tasks are easy to do – kids of various ages can be included in one experiment – and are very well-illustrated so the kids can mostly figure them out on their own. Each experiment encourages the kids to draw their own conclusions from the experiment and provides the basics of the science concepts applied. At the end of the book is a section devoted to success at school science fairs which covers how to show what you know, how to use tables and graphs, how to create a display, and provides tips and tricks to make it the best it can be.
We did five of the experiments from the book and thoroughly enjoyed each one. So much so that we plan to continue working through the book! Each experiment that we did was very straight-forward and very easy to complete. Not only did this book make science easy, but it brought science to life for my kids. Our favorite two experiments were “What’s So Weird About Ivory Soap?” (where you heat two bars of soap in the microwave and see what happens to them) and “What’s the Best Stain Remover?” (where you soak a cloth in grape juice and use different stain removers to get the juice out).
I’ve never seen any of the Time for Kids books, but if the others are like this one then I’d love to see more! My only suggestion would be for the authors to include a list of questions at the end of each experiment that helps children reinforce what they did and what they learned from the experiment. However, these experiments are easy enough to do that a parent or teacher could question the child verbally to accomplish the same goal.
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Amanda lives in Missouri with her engineering husband, two sons, and one daughter. In between homeschooling and keeping up with church activities she loves to read Christian Fiction, Women’s Fiction, and any Chick-Lit. She never goes anywhere without a book to read!
Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Goodman Media. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.
to give away, courtesy of the publisher!
