Science Resources

A number of parents have asked us about hands-on resources for use in teaching science.  You can find resources in a number of different places in the Bay Area and on the internet.  


One of my favorite places to visit locally for teaching resources, including science, is the Lakeshore Learning Store.  Lakeshore Learning Store has a location in Walnut Creek at: 

1929 Mt. Diablo Blvd.

Walnut Creek, CA 94596

925-944-1495
Fax 925-944-1585

Resources for use in preparing science projects for the upcoming Science Fair, or for every-day use, can take all sorts of forms.  Here are a few examples:  

Lakeshore Learning Stores (and stores like it) carry science title cards and three-sided displays for use in displaying Science Fair projects.

Places like Lakeshore Learning Store also carry a range of science kits and other resources.  For example:

The Lakeshore Volcano Kit includes everything you need to build a realistic "volcano" and to make it erupt.  The kit elaborates on the traditional "volcano" using vinegar, red food coloring, and baking soda, and also includes materials for building the volcano with paper mache.
  

The Learning Resources Primary Science Lab Set is a great first lab set.  It has twelve pieces of equipment -- three test tubes with test tube holders, a beaker, a measuring cup, a dropper, etc.  The kit includes ten cards describing easy experiments.  

"Science Wiz" has a series of science kit boxes that focus on a range of different topics including "Inventions," "Electricity," and "Magnetism."  The kits include books, which describe the topic and step through interesting experiments.  They also have kits for building circuits and various simple machines.  According to sciencewiz.com, hundreds of testers from science museums and schools around the San Francisco Bay Area helped refine and polish the content of these kits.     

"Pop Bottle Science," which comes in a bottle-shaped container, includes 79 different experiments.

Dunecraft "Speedy Snow" allows kids to make realistic-appearing "snow."

"Gobbledy Goop" is a small kit for kids to make multi-colored slime using a simple chemical reaction.

Resource books might include "Inventions" by Glen Murphy (published by Simon & Schuster), and "Science Projects, Grades 3-4," published by Harcourt, which includes 70 science projects.

Other sources for great resources include the science museums across the Bay Area -- from Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland and Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley to the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito and the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose, to the Academy of Science in San Francisco (the Exploratorium in San Francisco is currently closed because it is moving to Pier 15, and will reopen in late April), we are lucky to have a lot of different sources for science-related activities for young scientists.