If you are still looking for ways to keep minds active and hands busy this summer, you might appreciate this free science experiment download: Science Experiments and Amusements for Children by Charles Vivian. Subtitled 73 Easy Experiments (No Special Equipment Needed) Illustrate Important Scientific Principles, the ideas is that your children can work through the experiments on their own using common household items.
The seventy-three scientific experiments described in this book can easily be done by children on their own, without the supervision of a parent or teacher. Explicit directions are given for each step, and the only equipment required can be found around the house. By working with such simple materials as steel wool, cotton, candles, eye-dropper, compass, cork, rubber tubing, coins and magnets, the young experimenter will become acquainted with dozens of the basic principles of physics, chemistry, mechanics, engineering, and many other fields.
However, as always, you’ll want to use your own judgment about what items are safe and which experiments do not need your supervision! You may also find a few items no longer considered “common household items.”
Experiments include:
- Squeezing air.
- Balancing the impossible.
- Making a periscope.
- Reflecting sound.
- Making a compass.
- Building a simple electric motor.
- Making a boomerang.
- Many, many more.
The experiments include an explanation of what is happening and why. This is a great time to pull out that science notebook and record findings!
The items needed for each experiment are outlined right at the beginning. Photos are included that show young people performing the experiments. The book was originally published in 1967 and some of the photos look a bit outdated. But hey, it is free!
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