A Review – ScienceandMath.com

Hands on science activities that can be done with basic supplies around the house? Yes, please! ScienceandMath.com fills the bill and is tons of fun! We were given a copy of the DVD Amazing Science, Volume 1 to review and have been having so much fun!

What Is Amazing Science!?

Amazing Science! is a DVD program that covers a variety of science concepts using hands on experiments that kids can easily do. The videos are aimed at grades 1 -3 but is so accessible and so well done that it easily can go a bit lower (we used it with a barely 5 year old) and a bit higher (our 4th grader loved it!). Very few of the supplies will have to be bought – most you will have around your house. So, with the DVD, a DVD player, a TV and a few supplies, your kids will be on their way to understanding some amazing science concepts. The 2 disc DVD set is available from ScienceandMath.com for $17.95 (list price is normally $24.95) on their website http://www.ScienceandMath.com. If you want it even faser, they have the lessons available as a download for $14.99 at the time of this writing.

Through simple science experiments, you will explore concepts such as air pressure, light waves, magnetism, electronic charges, electricity, heat and much, much more! Pop the DVD into your player and sit down to watch the video related to the experiment you have picked out. It is easy to find on the DVD; you don’t have to fast forward through experiments you are not interested in at the time. Jason, from ScienceandMath.com, will walk through the science experiment step by step. Talking the students through the experiment, Jason also covers the concept in more than one way. Often, after showing the “magic” of the experiment, he goes back through the experiment once again to show the exact places and ways that you can see the scientific concept playing out.

Want to see a cloud in a bottle, color changing milk, a balloon in a candle flame, or amazing magnetic force? If you visit http://www.ScienceandMath.com, you can find videos of these four science experiments from this DVD set. You can view these and then do the experiments yourself. This will allow you to see just how accessible this DVD makes science experiments and just how easy the materials are to gather and use. I highly recommend you visit the site to see the quality of this program. Then, you’ll want to purchase.

How We Used Amazing Science!

We have used Amazing Science!, from ScienceandMath.com, as a supplement and hands-on activity to accompany other things we are doing in science three or four times a week. As such, we really wanted the giggly girls to pick things that appealed to them. When it was time to do a science experiment, we would hand them a print out of the supply list and titles of the experiments and let them pick which one they were interested in. (You can visit Kathy’s Cluttered Mind for another review of the product and a printable list of the materials needed for each experiment.) Of course, they took turns picking and mom or dad picked several. Once the experiment was picked, they sat down and watched Jason do the experiment and explain the scientific principles from the experiment on the video.

After the video of the experiment was finished, the giggly girls had to go and gather their supplies to do the experiment themselves. Once the materials were gathered and in place, we would have the girls talk about the order of the steps. We would decide who was going to do what part (sometimes they could work together enough to do it and other times we assigned their steps). Then we would get started on the experiment. After the experiment was completed, we then talked through the scientific concept and how we saw it work. Several times, we had the girls write about the experiment, sometimes describing it like a lab report and other times answering questions about what they did.

One thing about the scientific principle explanations: they come very quickly and can go by fast! We did rewind the DVD a couple of time so that they could hear the explanation repeated. Also, there were a few times that, before they could write about the science experiment, we had to go over the concept in a couple of different ways, sometimes doing a different kind of simple experiment to help the girls understand. For example, air pressure is a difficult concept and it was one that was covered in more than one of the experiments they chose. One day, it was very frustrating for them trying to write about the experiment and what they learned when they didn’t understand air pressure. They had never had the concept of surface tension and pressure so they just didn’t get it. So, we pulled out a balloon and talked about air pressure using it. Once the giggly girls understood air pressure from the balloon, they could then apply it to the experiment about keeping paper dry while it was underwater.

Some of the Experiments We Did

We did lots of the experiments and had a blast doing all of them. We gave the giggly girls the responsibility of taking picture documentation on a couple of them and on others, I took on the documentation task. Here are some of the experiments we did and a few pictures from them.

We did other experiments, as well. These are just the ones we remembered to take pictures of.

Our Recommendation

We have thoroughly enjoyed this DVD. From us, it is highly recommended. It is easy to access and the majority of the materials needed are easily gathered. The experiments are not hard to do and the kids can do most of them without help. (They do need supervision and guidance but they can handle most of the work.) The concepts are explained in an accessible way, for the most part. But, hands down the biggest reason we would recommend this DVD – the kids get it! They understand and they love doing the hands-on activities that help them learn. This is one DVD that will get lots of play in our home as the giggly girls continue to learn more about science principles through hands-on activities. At Home.

You can connect with ScienceandMath.com on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ScienceAndMathCom.

You can find more reviews on Amazing Science! Volume 1, as well as reviews on these other ScienceAndMath.com products – Mastering 5th Grade Math – Volume 1 – Fractions, Algebra 1: Volume 1, and Fractions Thru Algebra Companion Worksheet CD by clicking on the Schoohouse Review Crew banner below.