Wednesday 14 December 2011

Book review : Naked Eggs & Flying Potatoes - Unforgettable Experiments That Make Science Fun - Steve Spangler


If my dad wrote a book, this would be it ! He was always regaling us with tales of getting up to mischief in the kitchen when he was a kid (which, these days, would be called taking a proactive interest in scientific discovery !), making volcanoes out of baking soda and vinegar and goodness what else that he could find in his mum's cupboards. Even now, he still has fun teaching the Madhouse kids "naughty things" to do. Sophie is incandescent with excitement at the thought of finally being allowed to put Mentos in a bottle of coke (the usual refrain being "wait till you go to Grandad's house" !!) and I just know that the pair of them will have a lot of fun with the Kitchen Science set that I reviewed here.



Well, Naked Eggs & Flying Potatoes is a very similar concept but in book form. Some of the experiments are incredibly simple but some of them look highly impressive, even to me as an adult. I love the way they use things that you can commonly find in your average kitchen. There is a slight problem with certain experiements calling for things that you'd have trouble finding outside of America, such as Taco sauce and Ivory brand soap, while others need a bit of tweaking to find alternative brands to things like Elmer's Glue All, Borax and Dawn Liquid Dish Soap.



As well as being a lot of fun and creating visually exciting results, I love the way the book leads from step-by-step instructions and photos to an explanation of the science behind each experiment. Your kids may be making things implode, creating a mess and playing with gloop but they'll also be learning.

For a sneaky peek at some of the contents, watch the video below :



I've wrapped this book and put it under the tree to go with the Kitchen Science kit. I'm not sure who out of Sophie and Madhouse Grandad will be having the most fun when they unwrap their Christmas presents this year !

star rating : 4.5/5

RRP : £12.50

Paperback: 156 pages
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group LLC (1 Jan 2011)
Language English
ISBN-10: 160832060X
ISBN-13: 978-1608320608

 

Other reviews you may be interested in :

6 comments:

  1. My eldest son would love this, although I'm not sure I would like to see the state of my kitchen afterwards!

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  2. LOL That's why I always get Sophie to do this kind of stuff at Nanny & Grandad's house !!!

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  3. This looks fantastic & so much fun.

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  4. Steve's motto is "don't do this at home, do it at a friend's house" or do it at grandad's. Thank you so much for reviewing our book and sharing it with your readers. We are so glad that you are enjoying it and hope you can find alternative brands for all of the experiments. Please email us if you have any questions.

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  5. Thanks, will do :) Great motto too !!

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  6. Well your review is good enough for me to go in search of this book for my kids. Thank you Cheryl xxx

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