If you’ve got a boy in your house, whether he’s two or twenty- he’s likely got that strong male instinct to want to shoot something. My oldest child is a girl, who I don’t ever recall had even the slightest urge to pretend any of her play things were shot guns, revolvers or army rifles. Then I had a son, who is now three and a half and he’s 25 pounds of pure male testosterone- and at any given moment he’s got his superhero figures poised to take each other down, in his version of the infamous gunfight at the O. K. Corral- where any object can be substituted for a gun- and his figures go on a crime fighting shooting spree.

Suffice it to say- I am not a member of The NRA and therefore would prefer that my son gravitate towards less violent imaginative play scenarios. Unfortunately, he’s in that shoot-em up phase- at least for the time being. So it was with great relief that I got my hands on this Airzooka product which doesn’t resemble anything even remotely close to a gun. Although it’s got a nifty handle, so that if your child prefers (which mine does) he can hold it like a gun and pretend that it is indeed one!

Here’s the breakdown: This gun shoots safely, can be used indoors or out, is spotless, dry, doesn’t  knock over furniture, and nobody gets hurt because it shoots air! A parent’s dream come true! It is a wide tube you put together and sends out powerful yet harmless blasts of air. Pull back on the elastic air launcher and poof. Good, clean (literally) fun.

Age: Six years and older.

Time required to assemble: Easily assembled in 30 minutes or less by arranging the interlocking tubes and attaching the handle.

Cost: $14.95.

Best Features: This easy to put together air blaster shoots a safe puff of air strong enough to mess your hair or wake you up. But nothing to clean or sop up.

Difficult Features: Finding something wrong with this toy, it’s all good and easy to put together.

You can get it here.

We’re a dog family…no we don’t look or act like dogs- but we’ve got one, a nine-year-old Shih Tzu, who is our “eldest” child. Of course my kids would prefer a menagerie of pets and animals and have been begging for a goldfish to which I’ve repeatedly stated, “Show me you can handle the responsibility of a pet by taking care of Mellie our dog,” and their answer in unison is always an enthusiastic, “Okay!” And for the first day, although they’re pretty good at playing with her, stroking her belly and making sure she’s fed, like most kids their interest quickly begins to wane and I’m the only one left holding the pooper scooper.

So when I received this Deluxe Triassic Triops kit my kids practically jumped out of their skins they were so eager to assemble it and “create” life. In fact my seven-year-old daughter confided in me… “Mom it feels like we’re playing G-d, I like it!”

So here’s a bit about our foray into the creation of life…

Here’s the breakdown: You are given all the ingredients to create life! Just add water! MUA HA HA! (Must be said in laughing, ghoulish tone) The kit comes complete with an 11″ x 6-1/4″x4-1/2″ tank, food, gravel and yes the eggs which hatch up to 30 live Triops’.  Triops are tadpole shrimp, crustaceans with three eyes, hence the name tri-ops which can grow up to three inches.

How it works: After simple preparation of the tank which includes; adding water( spring or distilled is recommended) you’ll need to add the  nutrients, gravel and providing a heat/light source you add the eggs which will hatch one to two days later. You (and your slightly inpatient brood) will soon see little swimming creatures.

Age: The product box states that it’s 8 and up, however, my three year-old checks these little guys everyday, and is fascinated by their growth, and their evolution!(not his words..exactly!)

Time required to complete: It takes less than an hour to set up but if you have a curious child you might want to spend more time explaining how this miracle of life occurs. Unfortunately it takes up to 2 days for the eggs to hatch into tiny critters.

Cost: $11.00- a BARGAIN!!

Best Features: The Deluxe Triassic Triops kit comes complete with everything you’ll need to create an environment that will sustain life. Dark beads, gravel, a nutrient pack, a fossil replica, food, a magnifying ruler, and a booklet full of potential experiments and diary to record the milestones of these crustaceans. But best of all, you’ll get live swimming pets to both tend to and watch with your kids  as they develop each day.

Difficult Features: You must follow the set up instructions carefully to ensure you get do indeed create an environment which will yield some live hatchlings for you and your kiddies to lovingly gaze at. You also have to be careful to maintain a water temperature between 74 and 84 degrees (similar to tropical fish). And feeding also requires adult supervision.

To learn all about these nifty, resourceful, crustaceans and to nab your very own kit click here.

This Hot Air Balloon is a work of art that actually flies up to 200 feet using hot air. But before you get all excited- and think you’re going to take this baby and fly around the world, Jules Verne –style, a word of caution. This is a project that will require a very light, skillful touch—and loads of patience, on both the part of the parent and child!

This is the kind of science experiment that strikes right at the core and unearths that child-like desire we all harbor to take flight, or at the very least to create an object that will do so! Building this balloon, with your kids, and then actually setting it free to float in the air- is likely a childhood memory your kid will cart around and cherish for a lifetime.

So now that I’ve shared how very sentimental this balloon process was for me personally, I’ll get down to the nuts and bolts of this project so that you can share it with your kids too!

Here’s the breakdown: This hot air balloon includes 15 thin paper panels and wire to support the base. You’ll need to carefully glue the panels together to make a beautiful 12, 9 or 6 foot high balloon which actually flies up to 200 feet high.

Age: Anyone can enjoy this project but it will require an adult or teenager for supervision of the assembly and launch.

Time required to complete: It can take at least five hours to glue the panels together seamlessly to ensure hot air retention and flight. The launch itself also requires a few hours…but you’ll be so busy marveling at your creation and watching it ultimately take flight that you’ll probably lose track of the time…

Cost: $19.95 for the 12 foot balloon.

Best Features: The feeling of accomplishment and sheer delight when you see this well engineered small balloon that you’ve put together with your own hands floating freely in the air. (Far more exciting and fulfilling than flying a remote controlled powered toy airplane!)

Difficult Features: Attaching the 15 panels to one another is a time consuming project that you will want to break up into a few sessions while. Not all the materials you’ll need to complete the balloon and launch it come in the packaging; you will also need glue sticks, or other glue, cooking fuel cans for the hot air and stove piping to fill your balloon. Of course adult supervision is required and you must be careful to avoid burns and fire.  But once you get out to the park…. IT IS BALLOON!

You can get it right here.

I don’t know what your living room looks like, but mine is literally covered in electronic gadgets and toys, (of course we ONLY use rechargeable batteries!) it’s like trying to navigate a minefield! Of course, no matter how many times I clean up- I never manage to avoid stepping directly on a sharp lone piece of Lego or plastic pint-sized Robot.

Truthfully, I long to introduce my kids to toys that require no batteries, just pure imagination—and of course lots of scientific power! Enter The Miss Behaving’ II Candle Powered Boat a reproduction power boat approximately 5″ in length constructed form metal with detailed painting. (which has already taken its place among the masses on my living room carpet!)

Not only is this the cutest little boat you ever saw but it happens to come in a collectible- mantel worthy box—I kid you not! Your kids will love watching it wade through the water powered by single white candles- no batteries necessary!

Here’s the breakdown: No assembly necessary (yeah!). Just blow a small amount of water through the boat as directed with the tiny straw, light one of the candles, place it in water and watch it go.

How it works: As above noted just light the candle and watch the fun.

Age: As long as an adult is lighting the candle and making sure no one touches the boat, which can get hot, this little putt-putt boat will delight any age.

Time required to complete: You can get it going in seconds.

Cost: A real steal at just $11.95

Best Features: Easy to set up and start. It really moves on its own with candlepower.  The decorative box happens to make it a great gift!

Difficult Features: Just be careful not to touch the boat because the candle burning inside will make its surface hot to the touch.

You can get it here.

Writing this blog and immersing myself and my kids in the all the really cool and educational science products that Edmund Scientific and Science Kit offer has fortunately spurred us all to become quite an inquisitive bunch!

The AntWorks project a great new space inspired ant farm which uses a gel medium instead of the old fashioned sand, peaked my daughter’s curiosity about the secret life of ants and had her bubbling over with questions like; which ant is in charge, which fueled a major discussion and research about the different roles ants assume in a colony like the workers and Queen.

While our evaluation of Ward’s Landfills and the Environment Lab Activity really brought out the environmentalist in her and sparked a big discussion about saving our environment. And now she has us all committed to banning Styrofoam and plastic bags from our household. Pretty cool for a seven year old!

So now, instead of trolling the internet for the best deals on used Manolo Blahnik strappy heels—yes I am a sucker for gorgeous, unaffordable shoes that are easily equal in value to a mortgage payment- my daughter has pulled up a chair next to me and we’re both on a joint mission to uncover websites that will keep the science discussions in our house alive and well.

Here is one of our favorites: Education.com which offers some pretty cool science experiments that you and your kids can get started on, utilizing ordinary household materials. These activities leverage the fact that children have an innate curiosity about the way things work. Ask kids if they want to do chemistry and they may balk but ask them if they want to:

-Watch an explosion as you drop mentos into coke?

-Fill a kiddie pool with different textures (shaving cream, beans, water, food coloring) and all sorts of containers, funnels, and other measuring things, and let kids have at it.

-Make oobleck (a mushy icky substance that changes from liquid to solid) in your kitchen for some gross out fun.

- Launch a pop bottle rocket… and they’re HOOKED!

Science is everywhere once you start looking for opportunities to use it. And many of these experiments are chemistry, it’s just presented differently. Considering that more and more jobs of the future will require scientists, it’s important to get kids to realize that science can be incredibly cool, and as a parent, you can make it so. This site has got activities from preschool, all the way up through high school and they’re fun. Promise!

Make a Soda Bottle Greenhouse – everything is Green these days, but what a fun way to bring environmentally friendly into the home in a way that kids can enjoy and understand. This fun activity will let you bring the green inside, and teach your kids to appreciate nature at the same time. This is a truly hands on activity that kids can do with parents and see results in front of their eyes. Children will foster seedlings into full grown plans, watching roots spread, leaves sprout and flowers blooming – all in a soda bottle! This is perfect for ages preschool thru kindergarten. Parent perk – you probably have all the ingredients already to create a miniature garden right in your own house. No extra shopping or supplies will need to be purchased. For one step of the experiment children’s hands will be off limits – parents will want to handle scissors for cutting away label from soda bottle, as well as poking holes in the bottom of the container for drainage.

Make Your Own Cloud – summer days are often spent on the grass, enjoying the weather, watching the clouds go by. But what is a cloud exactly? We look at them every day, but few of us realize what they are made of. There are details on the website on how to explain how clouds are formed, but a picture is worth a thousand words. Rather than tell your children how clouds are formed, show them! Parent perk – instead of being caught up in wondering just how to explain how a cloud is formed, take the time to show your child. Extra plus – all supplies are most likely in your home, so no need to run to the store for extra supplies. This is perfect for 3rd graders. For one step of the experiment children’s hands are off limits – there’s a match involved, so a grown up is a must.

Make Milk Glue – children often have sticky fingers, from food, dirt, playing, and in school, from glue. Has your child ever asked, what makes glue, paste or tape stick? Well, did you know you can make glue from milk? Yes, you can. Using a simple carton of milk, you can show your child how milk becomes sticky. This is a fun experiment that can take minutes and uses ingredients in the fridge and cabinet – parent perk! This is perfect for 5th graders – at an age when they’re about to head into preteen years, this is one experiment that may leave them wondering why it is their parent is so cool.

As our kids are bombarded by  buzz words like; global warming, conservation and recycling, it can often be hard for them (and even for their parents) to truly understand and connect just how  their small effort can indeed make an impact on the world at large.  Enter the Landfills and the Environment Lab Activity by Ward’s Natural Science, which provides kids with the opportunity to see, touch and create their own small microcosm of a landfill which will ultimately bring home just how truly important it is that everyone’s effort no matter how big or small is made to keeping trash from ending up in the world’s landfills.

Here’s the breakdown: This Earth Science activity will both enlighten and educate kids (and their parents) about how our waste is handled in the environment. It is a great tool to introduce students to environmental issues related to the specific materials which are in landfills ones which are biodegradable and dangerous pollutants. It will also alert students to scarier statistics like the fact that materials like plastic or Styrofoam can remain undegraded for 500 years.

How it works: There are four suggested investigations involving the formation and monitoring of landfills. Biodegradation, Landfill Formation, Microbial Degradation of Solid Waste Materials and Microbial Composition in Various Soil Environments. The product includes enough materials for three landfills, a list of additional outdoor activities, a teacher’s guide, and a comprehensive manual which includes a section to record data collection.

Age: Middle school to college aged students would benefit most—although my seven and three year-old were able to grasp the essence of the project and were more than happy to dig in their heels and get to work.
Time required to complete: Projects may take from five days to up to eight weeks to complete.

Cost: $84.95

Best Features: This project can act as the perfect catalyst to begin discussions on recycling, pollutants and renewable energy.  As students undertake, the product’s suggested investigations it will ultimately impart them with an inside understanding of which materials are biodegradable and how a landfill functions.

Difficult Features: In our instant- microwavable world—this kind of project will require that kids exercise their patience skills- and hopefully they’ll learn that while waiting can be difficult it can also yield some pretty amazing results. On a personal note; since we’ve begun our landfill my seven-year-old likes to take its “temperature” several times a day!

You can get the product right now here.

If you’ve got kids—there is no greater joy or excitement you can give them -other than chocolate, staying up past their bedtime or eating cereal for dinner –than the opportunity to build and launch (yes launch) their very own homemade Wizard rocket.

Here’s the breakdown: The three of us, my seven –year-old and my three year-old- (he was simply awestruck by the prospect of building, a “rocket ship”), had a great time putting together this rocket that really flies.

How it works: The kit comes with a foot long cardboard tube, a plastic nose cone, sturdy balsa wood wings, and self-stick decals to jazz up the rocket’s appearance and easy to follow assembly directions. The household items needed are scissors, masking tape, glue, sandpaper, and a hobby knife. After assembly and attaching a high performance engine, sold separately, the rocket can soar up to 1700 feet.

Age: This skill level 1, rocket is great fun for kids 10 and older; of course with adult supervision especially while launching.

Time required to complete: Rocket assembly should take no more than two hours. Estes engines and launch supplies are sold separately.

Cost: Wizard Rocket, Pkg. of 12, $65.99.

Best Features: It combines the careful excitement of putting together a model and the thrill of launching a rocket that flies. But just how do you get it to launch? The rocket and all launching materials must be brought to a 250 foot square open field and  after the  engine is fitted into the rocket, is placed on a launch pad(not included) the rocket can be launched. It should be fairly easy to recover with the streamer that ejects during flight.

Difficult Features: Helping your kids learn the virtue of patience! Although building this rocket will take their time, effort and concentration when they can ultimately fly it—all their work will be well worth it!

You can get the product right now here.

ANTWORKS by Fascinations is both literally and physically a space-age habitat for ants! Developed with the same technology used by NASA it is a fully self contained system with all the nutrition necessary to sustain ant life.

Here’s the breakdown

How it works: The ant habitat is contained in a clear Plexiglas container that can be set up easily on any table. Just add ants. You and your kids can catch them yourself (one of the best parts) or order Harvester Ants (forms are included). The translucent, cobalt blue gel, created from materials similar to those used by the NASA space shuttle experiment, contain all the water and nutrients the ants need to exist and thrive. The ant farm also comes complete with an easy-to-use 11 page booklet, ant order forms, a magnifying glass and a tunnel tool.

Age Appeal: Children of all ages will marvel as the ants create intricate tunnels and thrive, but suggested age is six years and older.

The Educational value: The ability for kids to see up-close and in their face just how these tiny beings create magical tunnels within the gel, that they are not simply insects to stomp on,  but that they too live interesting existences.

Sex: Both!

Time required to complete: All you and your kids need to do is round up some ants…my advice, get your grab-a-bug tool (insert hyperlink, please) or attract ants the old-fashioned way; put an Oreo cookie on the ground and in no time you’ll have an army of ants feasting on the crumbs- and ready to be gingerly scooped up and placed into your space-age ant farm!

Cost: $19.95.
Why this is a product that you MUST get now: More than anything it will help get across the very important message to your kids that even the tiniest of creatures make a contribution to this great big world of ours. And, it will certainly spurn follow-up questions and a desire to find our more about the secret lives of ants!

If you would like to order this product, get it here.

Let me preface this post with a slight caution for parents like me who are not all too keen about touching the tiny skeletons remains of dead animals. Although I harbored many reservations about dissecting these owl pellets which are; brown chunks of soft spongy material about two inches long and one inch wide wrapped in foil that contain the undigested remains of animals including fur, hair, feathers, bones and teeth, I forged ahead in the name of science, and am better for it (or at least that’s why my seven-year-old is telling me)!

Here’s the breakdown:

How it works: Once kids carefully remove the soft material and uncover the bones of the rodent intact, they can examine and even reassemble the animal’s skeletal frame.
The Educational value: It can be great fun for an inquisitive child or a great learning tool for an older child studying anatomy. The enclosed bone sorting ID sheet provides kids with helpful diagrams to follow for assistance and the nine page study guide describes in great detail just how the owl pellets are formed. A magnifying glass and plastic forceps are also included.

Age: Five years and older.

Sex: Surprisingly both!

Time required to complete: Each pellet will take at least 30 minutes to dissect.

Cost: $15.95.

Best Features: A great way to examine, reassemble and identify the skeletons of intact rodent bones without having to dissect an intact animal. The dry fur comes off the bones fairly easily with a toothpick in small pieces. Definitely a hands-on tool for students of anatomy and young biologists in training!

Difficult Features: The pellets consist mostly of fur and therefore they require careful dissection to free up and clean off the bones for examination.

If you would like to order this product, get it here.