The Usborne Book of Science Activities, Volume Two

I picked this book up at a conference and initially thought it was too advanced for my daughter, who turned five recently. After taking a closer look, however, I decided to buy it, and I am glad I did! Like all Usborne books, it has clear, fun, bright illustrations that are easy to understand and appealing to my daughter. My daughter loves doing the experiments, and I love that they are very simple and straightforward. I would guess that about 80% of the supplies I already have on hand. Along with the experiments are simple explanations that relate the activities to phenomenon we see in the world. This volume covers three topics: Science with Air, Science in the Kitchen, and Science with Plants. Each section has approximately 30 experiments or activities. At the end of each section, there is a brief "parents and teachers guide" that gives expanded information for each page of experiments. The Air section has experiments that deal with air pressure, wind, sound, breathing, etc. The kitchen section has experiments on taste, freezing and melting, carbonation, water, etc. A few of these experiments are a little more involved and include cooking or straining food. The experiment with dough involves baking bread. The plant section has some experiments but is largely observational, e.g. growing bulbs, examining a flower with a magnifying glass, observing the shape and texture of leaves, doing crayon rubbings with foliage. The experiments are simple enough that even my almost-3-year-old enjoys watching, but they are novel and impressive enough to appeal to older children too. My daughter is constantly brining this book to me and asking to do another experiment, so I would say it is a winner!

We homeschool and I was looking for hands-on science activities to make the subject come alive in a more meaningful way than just reading a textbook. There are three volumes in this set and so far we have worked our way through two of them. Overall the information is interesting, the activities are fun, the format is easy to use. For younger kids preschool to about first grade they can follow directions if an adult guides them through it. For 2nd through 5th grade the kids can read it and follow the instructions themselves. The illustrations are bright and helpful. There is extra in-depth explanations for most of the experiments at the end of each chapter to give a deeper understanding of the principles covered for the older student while the text alone is plenty for the younger ones. Volume Two has been more successful overall than Volume One. Some of the experiments in Volume One didn't work as expected.