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Posted By: Jenafur Reccomended reading for Chemistry lover - 02/11/10 01:33 AM
My 5 year old loves chemistry and really enjoys reading the Franny K. Stein series (leveled at 7-10 yrs). He's almost through reading all the books though and so I'm looking for anything else anyone would recommend for him. (We're also doing the Science 4 Kids Chemistry which he loves. ( www.gravitaspublications.com) You can view all the books and lab books etc online. They also have physics and biology at k-9th grade levels. Very cool.)
I'd love to hear about any thing related to chemistry he might like or, even just things your kids may have loved at this age...

Posted By: Cecilia Re: Reccomended reading for Chemistry lover - 02/11/10 02:32 AM
Oh yay!!! Another Franny K. Stein lover!!! My daughter just turned 5 and she absolutely LOVES the series...Totally relates to Franny, which is wonderful. She had a playdate over the other day...With wide-eyes and excitement she asked her friend, "Do you want to pet my deceased dragonfly and look for its 20,000 lenses???"...Her friend looked at her really weird and said, "Um no, but do you want to play house or barbies???" Sigh...It so reminded me of a Franny experience...Thanks for the Science 4 Kids tip. I will look into it smile
They are old, but the Danny Dunn series still have a lot of charm.
Hi Jenafur, I have a chemistry-mad 6yo DS. His latest love is actually particle physics, which if you think about it is an obvious next step after loving the periodic table... He's enjoyed Russell Stannard's Uncle Albert and the Quantum Quest just recently (mostly about wave particle duality really); not a book, but we all watched the Great Courses particle physics course together:
http://www.greatcourses.co.uk/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=1247
[there is a US site for this but I've lost it; and in case you don't know, never buy from this company except in a sale, everything comes round regularly!] - I mention this since it might not be obvious that it's accessible to a 5 or 6yo, but it really is. (We do also have their High School Chemistry course, but have not got into it - we were both very put off by the opening lecture that goes on and on about how you of course think science is boring, when neither of us does think that!)

Back to books, I also recommend the Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Chemistry - lots of stuff in it, clearly presented with loads of illustrations. (It's not a dictionary really.)
A molecule building kit to go with this is fantastic; DS has an Orbit set which keeps getting added to.

Sorry, only two books in amid a lot of stuff that wasn't what you asked for!
Posted By: Jenafur Re: Reccomended reading for Chemistry lover - 02/13/10 06:18 PM
Cecilia,
*laughs* Loved your post, sounds like my son too! I wish he had a friend like your daughter. DS had his 6 year old cousin over the other day and DS was so excited to show him all his chemistry things he got for Christmas. "Do you want to see me beakers and flasks and my test tubes?!" He runs around collecting them and puts on his "lab coat" (a white dress shirt my husband gave him), telling his cousin all about his experiments and how they should do experiments together etc. while his cousin completely ignored everything he was saying and doing, and played with my sons toys. I had to take DS aside, because he was getting frustrated with his cousins lack of interest, or even response. I said "Hey, I'm sorry but, everyone isn't as excited about chemistry and science as you are. When you have a friend over, sometimes you have to do what they like." He looked at me confused and seemed not to be able to comprehend that anyone wouldn't love all this stuff. I reminded him of Franny and how the kids in her class didn't understand Franny either. He seemed to understand better with that explaination.
His cousin is in the habit of ignoring DS though. DS talks so much, and about stuff he doesn't care about so he's almost programmed on ignore a lot of the time with DS. The weird thing is DS really loves to be with him.

Thanks also ColinsMum,
We'll have to check out the particle physics when we get our internet back. I have to borrow internet (that's why I took so long to reply, that and I homeschool DS)

I reserved the Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Science, since my library didn't have the chemistry one, but it looks like it has some chemistry too. We'll have to put the chemistry one on his Amazon wishlist.
: )
Posted By: Jenafur Re: Reccomended reading for Chemistry lover - 02/13/10 06:30 PM
I'm also looking into the Danny Dunne Series too Intparent, thanks, i remember liking those books as a kid too.
Posted By: Cricket2 Re: Reccomended reading for Chemistry lover - 02/13/10 06:46 PM
Do you think that he might like this book? It is very visually appealing and has good info about the elements. I've also found it at Barnes & Noble if you want to take a look at it in person.
Originally Posted by Jenafur
I reserved the Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Science, since my library didn't have the chemistry one, but it looks like it has some chemistry too. We'll have to put the chemistry one on his Amazon wishlist.
Ah - there is an Usborne book which is just their chemistry, biology and physics illustrated dictionaries all stuck together in one pair of covers - if that's what you've got, and it may be, then getting the chemistry one won't add anything.
My daughter loves the science series by Basher--the chemistry one is Periodic Table: Elements with Style! There are also biology, physics and astronomy volumes, and a new one just came out on geology. They're heavy on humour, so a very science-oriented kid might find them simplistic. Link is http://www.amazon.com/Basher-Period...p;s=books&qid=1266107006&sr=1-1.
Posted By: Cricket2 Re: Reccomended reading for Chemistry lover - 02/14/10 02:17 AM
Originally Posted by westcoastmom
My daughter loves the science series by Basher
Yes, those are great kids books.
Posted By: Jenafur Re: Reccomended reading for Chemistry lover - 02/15/10 09:32 PM
Yes!
My son loves this book, Elementa With Style, we recently got it from the library he took it with him and the periodic table poster to show his class at school.
Posted By: Raddy Re: Reccomended reading for Chemistry lover - 02/27/10 04:36 PM
There was an absolutely brilliant 3 (or 4) part TV series here in the UK that my 10 year old loved - it drew together Chemistry and Physics. It was on BBC4 called Chemisty- A Volatile History.

If you can't get it on PBs or whatever you have in the US you could try Youtube, eg

Originally Posted by Raddy
There was an absolutely brilliant 3 (or 4) part TV series here in the UK that my 10 year old loved - it drew together Chemistry and Physics. It was on BBC4 called Chemisty- A Volatile History.

If you can't get it on PBs or whatever you have in the US you could try Youtube, eg

Wow, that looks great, thanks! It doesn't seem to be available on DVD yet, sadly, but I suppose it will be at some point.
Posted By: Raddy Re: Reccomended reading for Chemistry lover - 02/28/10 07:44 AM
Hi Colinsmum
Just watch it on Youtube - it is absolutely worth it, and the BBC at its best. My just 10 year old "ate it up".

(You could try and copy it from Youtube - naughty!)
I expect we will watch it on YouTube, but we get jerks etc. which are annoying (in our area there is too much contention on the broadband, I suppose...), so when I see useful things on YT I buy them on DVD if possible. This kind of thing will get watched 64,832 times in our house, so definitely worth it :-)
Posted By: Tiz Re: Reccomended reading for Chemistry lover - 02/28/10 12:57 PM
ColinsMum - I've just seen that it will be shown on Thurs 4th March at 20:00 on BBC4 smile
We don't have a television! It may be online, but of course that has the same problems as YouTube.
Posted By: Raddy Re: Reccomended reading for Chemistry lover - 03/01/10 06:49 PM
Episode 1 is on BBC4 this Thursday at 8pm. I will have the video waiting. Ashamed to say I will be taping Clint Eastwood straight afterwards - for myself :-)

Colinsmum - BBC programs are usually available online for a week after broadcast on the "BBCiPlayer". Stay up late when everyone has gone to bed and catch it then.
eScience is a great follow-up to the RealScience4Kids program. The content for the high school chemistry lab isn't too difficult for my 10-12 yo students who have already mastered RealScience and Cliff's StudySolver Chemistry.

http://www.esciencelabs.com/

http://www.amazon.com/CliffsStudySo...ooks&qid=1268724114&sr=1-1-spell
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