Big Engineering Experiments for Little Kids: A First Science Book for Ages 3 to 5 (Big Experiments for Little Kids)

When I chose a fun challenge from Dr. Jacie Maslyk’s book Big Engineering Experiments for Little Kids, I had no idea that my kids would not want to quit and the fun lasted for hours. The age group suggested is for 3-5 yr olds. I know my three yr old loved it and for parents wanting to find a non-digital way to engage with their littles, this book gives you plenty of ideas. For parents and teachers of bigs, I could see this book being used as an independent center or as a guide to get ideas for engaging students and providing a foundation of understanding in more complex engineering tasks. I love how Dr. Maslyk organized this book and is honest about messy levels, uses easy to find household objects, and even gives simple explanations that parents and teachers can build on as necessary! We give her newest book five stars!

Our two 4 yr old grandsons are asking for a new science experiment every time we're with them. We started with chain reaction and they were hooked. This is. brilliant book!

As a STEAM teachers (and former 5th grade teacher!) I spend a lot of time researching and creating meaningful engineering experiences for my Pre-K students. I received an advanced copy of this book from Dr. Jacie Maslyk's publisher. This book is a wonderful resource for parents and teachers! With 20 fun, kid-friendly experiences using common household items these ideas are completely do-able! Each activity has a "messy meter" (for those times that a quick cleanup is needed) and utilizes pictures that enable kids who aren't able to read yet figure out the process of the activity. One of my favorite parts of the book is the "Be Curious" questions. These guiding questions help the adult facilitator engage the child in a meaningful conversation about the experience. Additionally, there's also a section that explains how the activity works using vocabulary that is easy to understand! With the use of common materials, easy directions, engaging discussion questions, and easy to understand scientific explanations this book is going to be utilized not only with me as a facilitator, but I feel that I can include my older 4th and 5th grade students as 'engineering buddies' for my pre-k/k classes!

While 4 years is very young to get started on science, this book does a very good job of getting young kids interested in science and scientific thinking. This book will require a parent or older sibling to assist, not just with reading, but also explaining what to do and then introducing the science behind what just was observed. Little kids do not understand electricity, but as one of the first experiments in the book, the concept of electricity by charging a balloon on hair and then seeing whether it can move an object is something that a little kid will find interesting.Again, I highly encourage a parent or older sibling to be involved throughout the book and then using the time to explain the concepts to the child, so that the maximum impact is gained from the book. Simply repeating things that are done in the book without explaining is not gaining much for the child.Overall, the experiments are age appropriate in terms that they can be done by a young child. But the book clearly requires involvement of adult or order sibling to explain concepts and of course help read the text.I received a free copy of the book form the publisher.

As a STEAM Specialist in an elementary school, I received an advanced copy of the book to review. Immediately I was drawn in with the title. There are limited, quality resources for STEAM/STEM ideas for the younger children. The age group of 3-5 includes my youngest students in Pre-k, TK, and Kinder. All of these tasks would be fun to complete in my lab.. As an educator that often shares resources to get parents engaged, this bookwould be a great resource. It gives simple, clear directions and illustrations for a variety of engineering experiments. I appreciate that the author addresses both the "adult engineer" and the "kid engineer". Each experiment guides young engineers through tasks that introduce them to the engineering design process incorporating materials that are easy to find, and many will already be around the house. Dr. Jacie Maslyk also extends the engineering learning experience with her "Be Curious " and "How it Works" sections.

Dr. Maslyk compiled useful, doable engineering challenges for preschoolers and kindergarteners in one handy resource. As a pre-k through 3rd grade engineering teacher, I found it difficult to find engineering challenges for this age group that were engaging and followed the engineering design process- not crafts. This book fits the bill. In fact, I already did the toothpick and Play-Doh tower with preschoolers they approved it.The following are things I love about the book:* Every lesson has a messy meter. It informs you ahead of time what kind of clean up will be involved.* Every lesson provides the time it takes to do the lesson.* Every lesson ends with "Why it works".* Every lesson has an engineering extension lesson.* The beautiful illustrations provide a great visual with the step-by-step, easy to follow directions.* The lessons use everyday, household or craft items. So the lessons are simple to implement.This book is great for school or home.

As a STEM advocate and educator, I received an advanced copy of the book to review from the publisher. Dr. Jacie Maslyk's latest book is a jewel of resources and activities for early learners! You don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on STEM kits or robots for kids to learn science through play. The 20 kid-friendly experiments in this book use basic household items and are simple enough for kids to do with guidance from a grown-up. I love how each experiment shows pictures of the supplies needed and features pictures of each step of the experiment! The Messy Meter for each experiment is a really nice added touch as well. To encourage further learning and discovery, each experiment includes "Be Curious" and "How It Works" sections. Overall, I highly recommend this book and am looking forward to using it in my work.

Great ideas to get young children thinkng!

Good experiments but you could think of some of them yourself, like stacking cups or building a play dough tower.