Physics

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.

If you’re the parent of an inquisitive tween who longs for intricate details to define exactly how things work; a child who is far more interested in finding out how the actual television picture appears on the screen rather than indulging in an episode of SpongeBob Square Pants, then this Mini-Rutherford Laboratory is the educational tool for him. But parents- don’t try this at home! This is a tool reserved for trained physics professionals- or in other words- your child’s teacher.

Here’s the breakdown:

How it works: Tweens roll and shoot different sized multicolored marbles and map their rebound paths to determine the size and shape of hidden objects.

Gender: Both.

Age: Designed for physics students in middle school.

The Educational value: Kids will learn how to determine the shape of an atomic nucleus (represented by the unknown blocks) with the use of accelerated particles (represented by the marbles) by mapping their deflection paths.

Best features: A fun and active way to learn about particle and atomic physics.

Difficult features: Large particles are wider than height of blocks. You’ll need to set it up on a table or floor at least four feet in diameter and one word of caution; the marbles may go all so be prepared to chase down scattered marbles.

You can get it here now.