TOS Review - Science in a Bag

Science is a favorite subject in our house.  At this moment, I have three science experiments on my kitchen counter:  a sprouting ear of Indian corn (it has begun to sprout, but it is taking for-ev-er, so that experiment may be scrapped if it doesn't get a move on), lima bean plants and a container of oobleck that we used last week at our Co-op.  We, ahem, Julianna has been playing with it almost daily.  It is totally cool stuff.  If you like Science (and simple experiments to go along with it), then I have some good news to share with you:  Science Experiments in a Bag e-books, volumes 1-3.

 

Activity Bags was started by two homeschooling moms, Paula and Sherri, as a way to keep their preschoolers occupied while teaching their older kids. They came up with activities, got together with other moms, put all the materials for the activities in bags and did a swap.  It was such a success that it grew from the Preschool Activity in a Bag books to a product line that now includes Reading, Math, Travel, and Science for grades K-6 and Daily Activity Journals (with writing/activity/grammar work) for 3rd - 7th grade.  They also have a Coordinator Handbook (free download) available to help you organize your own swap.

My musings:
We received all three of the Science Experiments in a Bag e-books to review.  Each one covers different scientific areas:  Book 1- Biology, Nature and General Science,  Book 2 - Chemistry, Human Body and General Science, Book 3 - Chemistry.  Each book has 25 detailed experiments that you can do or you can gather the supplies for and put them into a ziplock bag to complete at a later time.  One of the cool things about the books is if you are planning on coordinating an activity bag swap, each experiment gives the supply lists for 1, 10, 15 or 20 bags, so all the figuring of supplies is done for you.  Less I have to plan out things the better.  We tried experiments from each book and found them all to be pretty fun and easy to do.  We did volcanoes (with baking soda/vinegar, mentos candy in diet soda (a favorite!), made butter and stuck a wooden skewer through an inflated balloon.  The majority required items we had on hand, but you might have to plan ahead for some.  I tried to get pictures, but failed miserably.  I almost had one of the balloon, but it deflated before I could get it snapped and when we tried again (or two more times), the balloons burst.  I did work once though!

Individually the e-books cost $15, but you can get books 1-2 (in the same series) bundled together for $27.  You can get a free sampler activity bag set for filling out this survey on their website.

* Disclaimer - As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I received a set of the 3 Science in a Bag e-books in exchange for my honest review.  No other compensation was given. *