52 Family Friendly Experiments from Around the House (Lab Series)

This book is the perfect guide for anyone wanting to introduce children to fun science experiments. My 3 year old daughter loves this book. So far her favorite one was the "Rock Candy" experiment. She loved checking on them daily, and of course getting to eat it at the end. This book has really easy to follow directs and awesome pictures. I also like that a lot of the ingredients are items you can already find in your house. I highly recommend this wonderful book.

Yesterday I was surprised with an early Christmas gift, a big white envelope with local Minnesota scientist and mom Liz Heinecke's brand new book Kitchen Science Lab for Kids: 52 Family-Friendly Experiments Around the house. I enjoyed meeting Liz on the Twin Cities Live set back in June and loved her easy to make experiments and nature studies featured during her segment.

As soon as I ripped open the envelope and started reading the book I knew the 52 experiments designed to be easy enough for a 2 year-old to help and interesting enough for a teen to learn would be incorporated a weekly science day into our alphabet-obsessed lives.

Liz has pulled together manageable and yet totally fun experiments including chemical reactions, physics, life science, polymers, botany, microbiology, electricity, and even rocket science. This book would make a perfect birthday or even teacher gift.

Liz is a former research scientist who has turned her love of science into a source of inspiration for not only her children and their friends but for readers of her Kitchen Pantry Scientist blog, her KidScience app, KARE 11 Sunrise News (she was on this morning!), and even served as an Earth Ambassador for NASA.

I highly recommend purchasing this book for your family.

I have been working through some of these experiments and lessons with my Brownie troop and they LOVE it. The instructions are clear and easy to follow for my 3rd graders. They are able to work together as a team and do the experiments together with very little adult intervention. They love that this is something that they can work on themselves with only adult help when needed (boiling water for example). Learning through play and exploration is the best way to get kids to really understand a concept.

The author is a mother of three children . She used her knowledge and creativity to write a book full of wonderful experiments using household items or items easy to locate. Even her youngest child was able to participate in the experiments. Her oldest child used the experiments to think more critically and analytically. Some of the experiments can be performed inside and some need to be done outside.

Liz Lee Heinecke made sure every "lab" listed the materials needed, safety tips and hints, protocol or steps, the science behind the experiment, and a creative enrichment question or activity.

One of my favorite "labs" was called FRANKENWORMS. I can see my girls loving this one. You and your child will use baking soda and vinegar to bring to "life" the gummy worms candy.

So many easy family friendly experiments. Maybe you will consider putting aside a day in which the entire family participates in one of the experiments together. Sounds like fun to me!

*I received this for review - all opinions are my own*

Liz Heinecke's books (also see her Outdoor Science Lab) have easy to follow instructions and are a great way to share science with kids, even those who think they don't like or understand science. Liz is careful to stress the science behind the fun, as well as adding any safety precautions to take when performing the experiments. I highly recommend both books!

Love this book. This is really the stuff you have in your pantry. I did not have to go to the store to and buy a bunch of obscure products. My kids could get right to the fun with the things we had on hand at the house. The directions are clear and easy to follow. I helped my 7 and 9 year old get organized and they could handle the experiements alone. It has been a very entertaining book for our family.

Great book of little experiments for kids. We have done a few labs already and my step son enjoyed them. You may need to plan ahead a little bit because some of the lab materials you might not have around the house. Also, if your child is impatient then you may want to prep a little.

I love this book. Each experiment clearly lists easy to access materials, protocol, the science behind the fun (my personal favorite bit), and creative enrichment. I also particularly like at the beginning of the book that Liz Lee Heinecke recommends starting a Science Journal.

My kids are now grown-up, but when they were young we did some of the experiments that are in this book. We had the fun of doing them, but no understanding of the science behind them and no method or record of doing them. As my 21-year-old biology major says, "I wish we had had this book when I was little." I would have to add, me too!

I am a great aunt of 4, so have my own copy, but I have also purchased copies to give as gifts-- some for kids, some for grandparents, some for scientists (and their kids) who run research labs, and some for elementary school teachers. It was such a pleasure talking with my neighbors grandkids (2-year-old and 4-year-old) after they had done the Soda Geyser experiment. The 4-year-old said she wanted to do the experiment at her birthday party and the 2-year-old said "And then the geyser shot up!" Even if neither of them completely understand it all, they had fun and now have the word, geyser, in their vocabulary. (Protocol is another great addition to everyone's vocab).

This book is clearly created by someone who loves science and loves kids. I HIGHLY recommend it.

My preschooler loves this soooo much that I'm beginning to resent the thing. Haha! It comes with one blank magnet that we put a sticker on to mark today, but I wish it had come with a today magnet and maybe a few more blank ones. Also THIS IS NOT A WHITEBOARD. I wasn't sure when we bought it, but after a few tests, we were bummed to find that we can't mark off days past. If it wasn't for these few MINOR things, I would have given it 5 stars! Still a great teaching tool!