Kids + Questions +Core Content = Chemistry Magic!

There are many amazing picture books that explore and explain concepts, innovators, and game-changing discoveries in STEM topics (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). They range from biography (HERE), to poetry (HERE), humor (HERE), and distinctive voices (HERE), for very young (HERE) and for older readers (HERE). When the subject of CHEMISTRY arises, you might feel justified in assuming that the target age would be much older readers, or the subject matter would need to be diminished for younger readers. 

NOMAD PRESS, October, 2021

Surprise! When the book's formula combines a talented and knowledgeable writer with informative illustrated text and directions, exploring  intriguing CHEMISTRY topics that are safe, engaging, and dramatic, magic happens. CHEMICAL REACTIONS! With Science Projects for Kids is the newest title in the Nomad Press series, EXPLORE YOUR WORLD. Written by award-winning scientist/author Susan Berk Koch, Ph.D. and delightfully illustrated by Micah Rauch, it will, no doubt, find its way to plenty of eager teachers and learners in school and home classes. 

I don't include intentionally academic books in these posts, but this book isn't a text book. Even so, I wish it had been available when I was teaching chemistry units in elementary classes. 

As for my own experiences, I thoroughly enjoyed my high school and college chemistry classes. I would have LOVED to have this book for myself as a kid. Instead, my parents managed to give me a kid-chemistry-kit one Christmas. I just never felt inclined to putter with it, or learn from it. The little packets and parts reminded me of the little light-bulb-heated oven that came with tiny pans and packets as an earlier holiday gift. Everything about it was obviously "pretend", even when actually edible mini-bite-cakes were produced. I tired of it quickly, and  learned nothing about cooking or baking. I did, in fact, learn more about baking (and chemistry) by working with the actual oven and real ingredients from the cupboard. Mistaking salt for sugar, adding baking soda instead of baking powder, reading the recipe wrong and using only 1/4 cup of water instead of 1 and 1/4 cup of water made real world changes in the outcome of my efforts. 

So, getting back to this book, it offers everything I would have wanted and kids should have. To start with, the information is presented in digestible and logical bites and sequences, with the book design effectively sorting content into categories of chemistry processes and principles. Projects build on prior experiences and also incorporate careful cautions and solid doses of confidence. Each project provides additional challenges and opportunities for expanded investigations related to adjusting variables. 

For those working at home on their own, or using this book in a classroom setting, the early direction  to establish and use a notebook includes a thorough and effectively designed format. With guided and well-timed prompts throughout each project to make notes on observations, this essential step of recording science processes becomes as natural and successful as the projects themselves. 

Everything about the design and organization of content makes this a user-friendly book, one that the publisher can rightly suggest suits children as young as 7-10 years old. In fact, the big-eyed, big-wigged froggy scientist and his on-point partner lend a nearly comic-book appeal to the whole, while offering actual science content that is well-suited to middle school and beyond. In fact, if my high school chemistry teacher's classroom had been filled with students who had been immersed in this material while younger, we could have all advanced to AP CHEM in the blink of an eye. This is a screen grab from the bottom of the TABLE OF CONTENTS page, just to demonstrate how open-ended the potential for learning is in this book:

The chapters range from chemical structures and bonds to compounds, reactions, mixtures, states of matter, and more. One of the earliest assertions is applied throughout- Chemistry surrounds us in every day life. Colorful side bars provide important glossary explanations in helpful "Words to Know" frames. Each PROJECT frame (and there are plenty of them in the 98 page book) organizes materials needed, states the purpose of the exploration, cautions when needed, and adds "Did you know?" and "Think about it!"  inserts related to each project concept. Amazingly, none of this is text-heavy and it is ALL enticing. In the few cases that require materials not readily accessed in most households, suggestions are provided for sources or alternatives.

From start to finish, the main subject, chemistry, becomes intriguing and exciting. Even more, the approach and applications reinforce the central premise that chemistry is all around us. Chemistry IS us. That is the sense and essential theme that was missing from my youthful chemistry kit.  I've known others who say that they enjoyed them, which is fine. I was just not a fan of "pretending" to be a chemist, or a baker. The real world, though, that was a fascinating platform for learning. And that is the platform provided in this terrific book.

Be sure to check out this remarkably appealing and exciting on-ramp to experiments and developing a scientific understanding of our world. While you're at it, subscribe to Koch's blog,  which is, by far, one of the most informative and entertaining blogs I read on a regular basis. That goes for kids reading on their own or along with adults. Prepare for impressive interactivity and mind-stretching content, HERE.