For ages 8 and up,
Includes a 40-page science book with materials
This should be one of your child’s first science kits. The large, color-coded magnets should be played with at an early age. The first 15 activities explore which metals stick to magnets, magnetic poles, attraction and repulsion, magnets through materials, and temporary magnets. The kits includes high quality, color-coded, ceramic magnets.
Activities in the first part of the book
- Draw with iron filings
- Discover what sticks to magnets
- Levitate and bounce rings
- Make a duck swim
- Create a temporary magnet
- Detect iron
- Go fishing
- Play with magnetic poles
Sometime between second and third grade, children should revisit this book, repeat their favorite activities, and do the more advanced projects in the later sections.
Advanced Activities
- Build an electromagnet – then flip the poles
- Construct a compass
- Visualize the lines of magnetic force
- Explore compass directions
- Discover how motors work
Requires one D cell battery
Ann Einstein M.A.T. editor’s comment: I think it is imperative that young children have a lot of experience with magnets. They need to hold the magnets in their hands to see what “sticks.” As they explore with magnets, they are learning the scientific method at a formative age. They are gathering information, forming a hypothesis, testing their theory, and coming to a conclusion. I do this kit with Kindergarten children who love running around the room with their magnets saying, “I think it’s going to stick, I think it’s going to stick. Oh it doesn’t!” The book begins with very simple concepts but the last sections of the book deal with larger concepts, such as that the earth itself is a large magnet.
As a grandmother of a five year old, I give this kit as a gift to all of her friends!
