We’ve been going through Asia Citro’s newest book, Curious Kid’s Science Book: 100+ Creative Hands-on Activities for Ages 4-8. She’s put together over 100 fun science experiments for kids that need little or no set-up and use household items. Perfect for busy families!
Asia has a Master’s of Education degree with a background in experimental design and she’s great at giving these experiments real life applications. She understands that children are born scientists, and we need to nurture that curiosity within them. With this background, I was curious to review this book with the children.
Curious Kid’s Science Book is divided up into 8 chapters:
- Plants and Seeds
- Water and Ice
- Mold, Bacteria, and Fungus
- Engineering
- Food and Candy
- Baking Soda and Vinegar
- Living Things
The best way to nurture children’s interest in science is to let then explore and follow their lead. Tristan and Kallista chose to start with two experiments in the Water and Ice chapter.
The first was: Paint on damp and dry paper towels and watch the color spread. It was a lovely afternoon so we took the experiment outdoors.
The children watched how the colours spread out differently on the two paper towels. As you can see, Tristan takes his science very seriously, while Kallista enjoys the fun of it.
The second experiment they did was to fit as many drops of water as they could on a penny. They tried water, as well as vinegar as suggested in the book. They each had different results.
Some trials worked better than others. Here’s one penny loaded with 18 drops of water. You can see how the surface tension keeps the water from spilling off the penny.
Each of the science experiments comes with a ‘extras’; extensions to do or real-life applications. This makes it easy to adapt the projects to various levels, even while they work together at the same time. For some experiments a real ‘little scientist’ gives his or her results. How do your own results compare? This is a fun addition!
As any true scientist, Asia asks lots of questions. She leaves them open for young scientists to ponder and explore. This book doesn’t go in a ‘step by step’ format, but rather gives you the tools and freedom to manage them on your own.
Some of the experiments will take only a few minutes, like the ones we sampled, but others will take a few days, especially the Mold, Bacteria, and Fungus ones. I’d really love for my little scientists to try these, and I’m going to be adding agar and petri dishes to my next grocery list so we can have some more fun.
Some of these experiments we’ve done in the past. Some are classics, and many are ones that are completely new to us, or give a new spin on the classics.
The Curious Kid’s Science Book would be the perfect gift for anyone who runs a daycare, nursery, teaches (either in the classroom or at home), as well as parents who want to create a learning-rich environment.
If you’d like to know more or would like to follow Asia Citro, you can connect with her through her website, Fun At Home With Kids, Facebook, Pinterest, and Google+.
If you are in the US, The Curious Kid’s Science Book is available online now at Amazon, and within a few days at Barnes and Noble, and Books-A-Million.
