Science Resources

Sometimes the best way to teach a subject is to lay some ground rules and then let students actually "do" what they're studying. This is especially true of science, a study predicated on activity, experimentation and the observation of physical properties. It's also one of the best ways to get kids interested in science in the first place.

If he hadn't stood atop the Tower of Pisa dropping things off the edge, Galileo would never have made his observation that objects of any weight fall at the same rate in a vacuum. Archimedes had to get in the tub to discover that it is volume that displaces water. And the only way Newton could discover calculus was by scribbling numbers on pieces of paper.

Your kid probably isn't the next Einstein, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't learn as much about science as possible, or that he should do so with his hands tied behind his back. The problem with a lot of science textbooks is that they emphasize book knowledge without taking into account the hands-on nature of science and science learning. Observation is often touted as an essential part of the science process, but rarely is it enforced in the typical school curriculum.

Science resources can change all that. There are plenty of fact-based books (particularly those from Usborne) that pair facts with vivid illustrations, and those are fun for rainy days—kids are a lot better at acquiring and retaining raw information than we often give them credit for. But those are just a place to start; the options are limitless.

One of the best sorts of science resource are books filled with experiments. Whether it's Explorabook from Klutz Press which focuses on fun activities and includes everything you need to complete them, or Vicki Cobb's Bet You Can! experiments using household items, or the more advanced Science for Every Kid books by Janice VanCleave, you aren't likely to run out of options.

Astronomy is more observation-oriented, and we offer plenty of books on that topic, too. The Stars by H.A. Rey is a now-classic guide to the night sky for beginners, while Starry Messenger explains some of the basic tenets of modern astronomy through the (detailed and beautifully illustrated) life of Galileo Galilei. Isaac Asimov has written a number of books on space science, as has Seymour Simon.

Just letting your kids outside with notebooks and maybe a magnifying glass is as good as any book for helping them develop a love of nature and nature study, though manuals to help them identify plants, animals, rocks, etc. is a good idea. One of our favorite such books is the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock.

Keeping a well-stocked chemistry lab is a good idea for older students. Many experiments require chemicals, ingredients and equipment you aren't likely to just have lying around, so you'll need to be intentional about keeping a lot of those things stocked. Field trips are always a good idea as well, whether to a local laboratory, observatory, zoo, factory, or anywhere else that strikes your kids' fancy and has educational potential.

Whatever else you do, keep an open mind while guiding your kids' science education. The beauty of God's world and the excitement of learning about it should always be kept in view; whatever difficulty there is in physics, biology or chemistry should be met head on but not dwelt on or made cause for discouragement. Have fun, and don't restrict your science time to reading stuff—take time to actually do science, and you might find along with your children that it isn't such a bad thing to study after all.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he is a husband and father, teaches adult Sunday school in his Presbyterian congregation, and likes weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.

 

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127 Items found Print
Active Filters: 4th grade (Ages 9-10), Trade Paperback, Used Books & Materials
3-D Engineering
from Nomad Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Architecture and Sculpture (Location: ELE-ARC)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
America's Deserts
by Marianne D. Wallace
1st edition
for 4th-6th grade
in Deserts & Grasslands (Location: SCI-ECO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Astronomy Out of This World!
Pap/Pstr from Kingfisher
for 2nd-7th grade
in Basher Science (Location: SCI-BASH)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
Avenging the Owl
by Melissa Hart
from Sky Pony Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Basher Science: Engineering
by Simon Basher, Tom Jackson
Reprint from Kingfisher
for 2nd-6th grade
in Basher Science (Location: SCI-BASH)
$9.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Basher Science: Physics: Why Matter Matters
Basher Science
by Dan Green, Simon Basher
First Edition from Kingfisher
for 3rd-6th grade
in Basher Science (Location: SCI-BASH)
$9.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Basher Science: Planet Earth: What Planet Are You On?
by Simon Basher, Dan Gilpin
from Kingfisher
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Basher Science (Location: SCI-BASH)
$9.99 $6.00 (2 in stock)
Basher Science: Technology
Basher Science
by Simon Basher, Dan Green
Pap/Pstr from Kingfisher
for 3rd-6th grade
in Basher Science (Location: SCI-BASH)
$8.99 $6.29 (1 in stock)
Bell and the Science of the Telephone
by Brian Williams
from Barron's
for 4th-6th grade
in Inventions & Discoveries (Location: SCI-INV)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Blood and Guts
Brown Paper School Books
by Linda Allison
from Little, Brown & Company
for 3rd-8th grade
in Human Anatomy & Physiology (Location: SCI-ANA)
$4.00 (3 in stock)
Blood and Guts
by Linda Allison
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Human Anatomy & Physiology (Location: SCI-ANA)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Bluebirds and Their Neighbors
by Wayne Northey
from Pacific Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Book of Insects - Student Text (old)
by Arabella Buckley & Julia McNair Wright
1st edition from Memoria Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Old Edition Science (Location: OSCI)
$10.50 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Calcium (True Books: Elements)
by Antonia Cunningham
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Chemistry (Location: SCI-CHEM)
$6.95 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Can It Rain Cats and Dogs?
by Melvin and Gilda Berger
from Scholastic Reference
for 2nd-6th grade
in Meteorology (Weather & Climate) (Location: SCI-WEA)
$2.00 (2 in stock)
Carbon (True Books: Elements)
by Salvatore Tocci
from DK Children
for 4th-6th grade
in Chemistry (Location: SCI-CHEM)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Champions of Invention
Champions of Discovery
by John Hudson Tiner
from Master Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Inventions & Discoveries (Location: SCI-INV)
$4.79 $3.50 (3 in stock)
Crime Busters
Dorling Kindersley Readers - Level 4 Proficient Readers
by Andrew Donkin
from DK Publishing
for 2nd-4th grade
in DK Readers (Location: EAR-DK)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Cut and Make Space Shuttles
by David Kawami
from Dover Publications
for 4th-9th grade
in How Things Work (Location: SCIREF-HOW)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Dr. Jenner and the Speckled Monster
by Albert Marrin
1st edition from Dutton Juvenile
for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.50 (3 in stock)
Draw 50 Cars, Trucks, and Motorcycles
by Lee Ames
from Watson-Guptill Publications
for 3rd-8th grade
in Draw 50 (Location: ELE-ARTD50)
$9.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Earth and Space
by Kirsteen Rogers, Corinne Henderson & Laura Howell
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Astronomy (Space) (Location: SCI-AST)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Electricity and Magnetism
by Peter Adamczyk, Paul Francis law
from Usborne
for 4th-8th grade
in Electricity & Magnetism (Location: SCI-PHY)
$4.50 (4 in stock)
Energy, Forces & Motion
from Usborne
for 3rd-8th grade
in Physics (Location: SCI-PHY)
$2.70 (1 in stock)
Eureka! It's Television!
by Jeanne Bendick
from Millbrook Press
for 2nd-4th grade
in Inventions & Discoveries (Location: SCI-INV)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Explore Spring!
by Maxine Anderson
from Nomad Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Clearance: Science & Health (Location: ZCLE-SCI)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Eyes on Adventure: Exploring Natural Disasters
Eyes on Adventure
by Stella Sands
from KidsBooks, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
$2.00 (2 in stock)
Fall
by Dianne Hayley, Pat Wishart, Will Husby
from Lone Pine Publishing
for 4th-6th grade
in Clearance: Science & Health (Location: ZCLE-SCI)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Famous Ships
by Leon Baxter
for 3rd-7th grade
in Ships, Boats & Submarines (Location: HISV-SHIP)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
First Encyclopedia of Science
Usborne Internet-Linked
by Rachel Firth
from Scholastic Inc.
for 1st-4th grade
in Science Reference (Location: SCIREF)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
Forests
Our Planet
by David Lambert
from Troll Publishing
for 4th-6th grade
in Forests & Mountains (Location: SCI-FOREST)
$1.50 (1 in stock)
Genesis for Kids
by Doug Lambier & Robert Stevenson
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 3rd-8th grade
in Science Experiments & Activities (Location: SCI-EXP)
$6.50 (6 in stock)
Geology Rocks!
by Cindy Blobaum
from Williamson Publishing Company
for 1st-7th grade
in Geology (Rocks & Minerals) (Location: SCI-GEO)
$7.50 (2 in stock)
Girls Think of Everything
by Catherine Thimmesh
from Houghton Mifflin
for 3rd-4th grade
in Inventions & Discoveries (Location: SCI-INV)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Gizmos & Gadgets
by Jill Frankel Hauser
from Williamson Publishing Company
for 1st-8th grade
in Science Experiments & Activities (Location: SCI-EXP)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Golden Guide: Skyguide
Golden Guides
by Mark Chartrand
from Golden Books
for 2nd-7th grade
in Astronomy (Space) (Location: SCI-AST)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Golden Guide: Weather
by Herbert S. Zim, Paul E. Lehr, R. Will Burnett
1st edition
for 3rd-6th grade
in Meteorology (Weather & Climate) (Location: SCI-WEA)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Great Wheel
by Robert Lawson
from Walker and Company
Realistic fiction for 4th-8th grade
1958 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99 $6.00 (2 in stock)
Handy Science Answer Book
2nd edition from Visible Ink Press
for 4th-8th grade
in Science Reference (Location: SCIREF)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Head to Toe Science
by Jim Wiese
from Wiley-Interscience
for 4th-6th grade
in Human Anatomy & Physiology (Location: SCI-ANA)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Horse Crazy!
by Jessie Haas
1st edition from Storey Publishing
for 3rd-8th grade
in Horses & Ponies (Location: SCI-MAMHOR)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
How Mountains Are Made
Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science Stage 2
by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
from HarperCollins
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Geology (Rocks & Minerals) (Location: SCI-GEO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
How? More Experiments for the Young Scientist
by Dave Prochnow
from McGraw-Hill
for 3rd-6th grade
in Clearance: Science & Health (Location: ZCLE-SCI)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Human Body
Usborne Young Scientist
by Susan Meredith, Ann Goldman, Tom Lissauer
from Usborne
for 4th-6th grade
in Human Anatomy & Physiology (Location: SCI-ANA)
$1.35 (1 in stock)
Hydrogen and the Noble Gases (True Books: Elements)
by Marcia Williams
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Chemistry (Location: SCI-CHEM)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
I Can Draw Cars & Trucks
I Can Draw
by Terry Longhurst
from Parragon Publishing
for 4th-6th grade
in Drawing for Beginners (Location: ELE-ARTDRAW)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Illustrated Dictionary of Science
Revised from Usborne
for 4th-8th grade
in Science Reference (Location: SCIREF)
$21.60 (1 in stock)
Industrial Revolution
by Carla Mooney
from Nomad Press
for 2nd-8th grade
in Industrialization & Organized Labor (Location: HISA-19IND)
$15.95 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Janice VanCleave's 200 Gooey, Slippery, Slimy, Weird and Fun Experiments
by Janice VanCleave
from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
for 3rd-7th grade
in Janice VanCleave's Science (Location: SCI-EXP)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Janice VanCleave's 202 Oozing, Bubbling, Dripping & Bouncing
by Janice VanCleave
from Wiley-Interscience
for 4th-7th grade
in Janice VanCleave's Science (Location: SCI-EXP)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Janice VanCleave's Biology for Every Kid
Janice VanCleave's Science for Every Kid Series
by Janice VanCleave
from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks
in Biology (Location: SCI-BIO)
$14.95 $9.00 (3 in stock)
Janice VanCleave's Chemistry for Every Kid
Janice VanCleave's Science for Every Kid Series
by Janice VanCleave
from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks
in Chemistry (Location: SCI-CHEM)
$14.95 $8.00 (2 in stock)
Janice VanCleave's Earth Science for Every Kid
Janice VanCleave's Science for Every Kid Series
by Janice VanCleave
from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks
in Earth Science (Location: SCI-EARTH)
$14.95 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Janice VanCleave's Earth Science for Every Kid
Janice VanCleave's Science for Every Kid Series
by Janice VanCleave
1st edition from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks
in Earth Science (Location: SCI-EARTH)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Janice VanCleave's Microscopes & Magnifying Lenses
Janice VanCleave's Science for Every Kid Series
by Janice VanCleave
from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
in Janice VanCleave's Science (Location: SCI-EXP)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Janice VanCleave's Play and Find Out About Bugs
by Janice VanCleave
from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
for 3rd-7th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Janice VanCleave's Rocks and Minerals
by Janice VanCleave
1st edition from Wiley-Interscience
for 4th-6th grade
in Geology (Rocks & Minerals) (Location: SCI-GEO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Janice VanCleave's Science Around the World
by Janice VanCleave
from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
for 3rd-7th grade
in Janice VanCleave's Science (Location: SCI-EXP)
$10.00 (2 in stock)
Janice VanCleave's Science Around the Year
by Janice Pratt VanCleave
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Janice VanCleave's Science (Location: SCI-EXP)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Janice VanCleave's Volcanoes
Janice VanCleave's Science
by Janice VanCleave
from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Kids Book of Weather Forecasting
by Mark Breen & Kathleen Friestad
from Ideals Children's Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Meteorology (Weather & Climate) (Location: SCI-WEA)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Life in the Deserts
by Lucy Baker
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Deserts & Grasslands (Location: SCI-ECO)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Life in the Polar Lands
by Monica Byles
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Arctic & Tundra (Location: SCI-ECO)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Marine Biology Coloring Book
2nd edition from Collins
for 4th-9th grade
in Oceanography & Marine Biology (Location: SCI-OCEAN)
$24.99 $13.00 (1 in stock)
Mistakes That Worked
by Charlotte Foltz Jones
from Delacorte Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Inventions & Discoveries (Location: SCI-INV)
$5.50 (1 in stock)
Moon Seems to Change
Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science Stage 2
by Franklyn M. Branley
from HarperCollins
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Our Solar System (Location: SCI-AST)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
National Audubon Society First Field Guide: Birds
by Scott Weindensaul
from Scholastic Inc.
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Oxygen (True Books: Elements)
by Salvatore Tocci
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Chemistry (Location: SCI-CHEM)
$6.95 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Peterson First Guide to Shells of North America
by Jackie Leatherbury Douglass
2nd edition from Houghton Mifflin
for 1st-4th grade
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FIELD)
$11.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Physics Experiments for Children
by Muriel Mandell
from Dover Publications
for 4th-6th grade
in Physics (Location: SCI-PHY)
$7.95 $4.00 (2 in stock)
Planets, Moons and Stars
Take-Along Guide
by Laura Evert, Illustrated by Linda Garrow
from Northword Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Astronomy (Space) (Location: SCI-AST)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Plant Life
from Franklin Watts
for 1st-3rd grade
in Botany & Mycology (Location: SCI-BOT)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Play and Find Out About the Human Body
by Janice Pratt VanCleave
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
in Human Anatomy & Physiology (Location: SCI-ANA)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Practical Naturalist
by Chris Packham, ed.
1st edition from DK Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Nature Study (Location: NAT-GEN)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Quest for the Tree Kangaroo
Scientists in the Field Series
by Sy Montgomery
1st edition from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 4th-7th grade
2007 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book, 2007 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
in Zoology (Location: SCI-ZOOL)
$9.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Railroad
Inventions That Shaped the World
by John Matthews
from Franklin Watts
for 4th-9th grade
in Transcontinental Railroad (Location: HISA-19TRR)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Real Thief
by William Steig
from Houghton Mifflin
for 3rd-5th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Robotics
by Tony Potter, Ivor Guild
Revised from Usborne
for 4th-6th grade
in How Things Work (Location: SCIREF-HOW)
$3.15 (1 in stock)
Rock Grows Up
by Randi & Michael Goodrich
from GeoQuest Publications
for 1st-4th grade
in Geology (Rocks & Minerals) (Location: SCI-GEO)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Sailors, Whalers, Fantastic Sea Voyages
by Valerie Petrillo
1st edition from Chicago Review Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Ships, Boats & Submarines (Location: HISV-SHIP)
$7.50 (2 in stock)
Samuel Morse and the Telegraph
by David Seidman; illustrated by Rod Whigham, Keith Williams, and Charles Barnett
from Capstone Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Sassafras Guide to Anatomy
Sassafras Science
by Johnny Congo & Paige Hudson
from Elemental Science
for Kindergarten-5th grade
in Sassafras Science (Location: SCICUR-SAS)
$11.00 (1 in stock)
Sassafras Guide to Earth Science
Sassafras Science
by Johnny Congo & Paige Hudson
from Elemental Science
for Kindergarten-5th grade
in Sassafras Science (Location: SCICUR-SAS)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Sassafras Science Adventures Volume 2
Sassafras Science
by Johnny Congo & Paige Hudson
from Elemental Science
for Kindergarten-5th grade
in Sassafras Science (Location: SCICUR-SAS)
$11.00 (1 in stock)
Science Around the House
by Robert Gardner
from Silver Burdett Press
in Clearance: Science & Health (Location: ZCLE-SCI)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Science Fair Success Secrets
by Bill Haduch
from Dutton Children's Books
for 4th-7th grade
in Science Experiments & Activities (Location: SCI-EXP)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Science Play
by Jill Frankel Hauser
for 1st-6th grade
in Science Experiments & Activities (Location: SCI-EXP)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Science Surprises
by Sandra Markle
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-7th grade
in Science Experiments & Activities (Location: SCI-EXP)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Science with Plants
Usborne Science Activities
by Helen Edom
from Usborne
for 2nd-5th grade
in Usborne Science Activities (Location: SCI-EXP)
$5.39 $3.60 (3 in stock)
Silkworms
by Sylvia A. Johnson
from Lerner Publishing Group
for 4th-5th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$4.00 (3 in stock)
Sun, Moon and Planets
by Lynn Myring
from Usborne
for 1st-4th grade
in Our Solar System (Location: SCI-AST)
$1.80 (1 in stock)
Super Science Challenges
by Janice Pratt VanCleave
1st edition from Wiley-Interscience
for 3rd-8th grade
in Janice VanCleave's Science (Location: SCI-EXP)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Talk, Talk, Squawk!
by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Neal Layton
from Walker Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Zoology (Location: SCI-ZOOL)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Tall Ships of the World
by C. Keith Wilbur
from The Globe Pequot Press
for 4th-8th grade
in Ships, Boats & Submarines (Location: HISV-SHIP)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Tikta'Liktak
by James Houston
from Harcourt
for 3rd-6th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$6.00 (4 in stock)
True Book: Drones
A True Book
by Katie Marsico
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Things That Go (Location: SCI-TTGO)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Understanding Your Brain
by Rebecca Treays
from Usborne
for 4th-6th grade
in Human Anatomy & Physiology (Location: SCI-ANA)
$4.05 (2 in stock)
Usborne Animal World
Usborne Internet-Linked Library of Science
by Henderson Corinne
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Zoology (Location: SCI-ZOOL)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Usborne Book of Horses and Ponies
by Lucy Smith
from Usborne
for 2nd-5th grade
in Horses & Ponies (Location: SCI-MAMHOR)
$3.15 (1 in stock)
Usborne Book of Science Activities Volume 1
by Helen Edom, Kate Woodward
from Usborne
for 2nd-5th grade
in Usborne Science Activities (Location: SCI-EXP)
$3.60 (1 in stock)
12