Contributed by Info Guru Oliver VanDervoort
It seems that finding a way to get kids to take an interest in their studies is harder than it has ever been before.
There are simply too many things that are vying for your child’s attention these days and getting education information through the haze can be a real challenge. The best way to find a way to get you kids to pay attention is to make education fun. You can go with an iPad or computer game in order to do this or you can go sort of retro. Classic science toys are actually becoming cool again, simply because this generation of students hasn’t seen a lot of these in action.
They are so used to computers and apps that these toys are something new and different. Without further ado, here are the top ten classic science toys you can use to get your kids having fun learning.
10. Water Rocket
The Water Rocket is a device that can fly up to 100 feet using nothing more than water and air pressure. Rocket kits will show the kids what building up pressure can actually do as far as propelling something.
9. Magnet Space Wheel
The Magnet Space Wheel has a little plastic wheel rolling along on metal rails and a small track that the kids can keep in the palm of their hand. This shows them the power of metals becoming magnetized.
8. Hand Boiler
The Hand Boiler is a curved glass object that contains some liquid that has a boiling point just above room temperature. When someone holds the boiler in the palm of their hands, the liquid will indeed “boil.”
7. Plasma Ball
Almost everyone has seen the plasma ball in action. This is a glass globe that contains electrical energy that will actually react and “reach” toward someone when they touch the globe. Kids can play with the energy contained in the globe by touching it in difference places and at multiple points.
6. Crystal Growing Kits
The crystal growing kits will allow kids to have something they can show off to their friends while also learning a little bit about how crystals grow in the natural world.
5. Visible Man
The Visible Man and Visible Woman models allow kids to see the inner working of the human body up close and personal. Various human body models will have different degrees of detail in the models. Pick a full body model or a more detailed close up one of a single body part or system.
4. Wooden Dinosaur
The Wooden Dinosaur model has been around for ages and still serves to help give kids a hand on approach with what these creatures looked like. Newer versions can actually move thanks to batteries but the classic ones are still better. Not to mention that wooden toys in general have become quite popular.
3. Drinking Bird
Of the classic science toys, this is one of the most classic. The drinking bird dips forward and the liquid inside it appears to get bigger as it tips backward. Have it tip into a glass of water and the illusion is complete.
2. Gravity Defying Bird
The Gravity Defying bird is a toy that has such great equilibrium that it can balance on almost anything. It usually comes with some kind of thin post that you can have it set up on, but you can also have the toy balance on your finger or a whole host of other things.
1. Newton’s Cradle
This has long been called a perpetual motion machine because Newton’s Cradle will have the balls hanging on a string go back and forth almost endlessly. You can change the way the toy behaves by which ball or which balls you pull back and let go. Let your kids experiment with a variety of different approaches.