4.5 ⭐
I was already a big fan of Emily Calandrelli (mostly from her social media content)--so when I saw she was releasing a second, hands-on children's activity book, I was so excited!

I appreciate Emily's mention of self failure as a grade school student in the Introduction. I also struggled with test-taking anxiety, being the "gifted kid", and later feeling guilty about both when attending university. I think that this is a great point to bring up with children about how scientists are in no way superhuman. She truly makes the reader feel safe, welcome, and encouraged to explore science!

This book is packed full of activities, ranging from spooky science to outdoor nature experiments and includes sections like "Make A Hypothesis", "Who To Know", and "Did You Know?" side-bars to promote further discussion. Most activities use household materials, but my only fault with this book is that some of the required experimental materials are specialty and would require ordering them online (which could be difficult for some).

Would love to this resource being well-used and loved in the home for young scientists, or even in the classroom!
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Thank you Net Galley and Chronicle Books for the ARC! 🚀

This book was so adorable, I loved everything about it, the illustrations were so well done, they suited the book perfectly, the story was amazing as well. I’m sure the kids are going to be just as enthralled with this amazing book as I was. I will definitely recommend! Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this early copy

The first book was great and this one is too! My kids love the colorful illustrations and the fun experiments. I liked that there weren't a bunch of unique ingredients to buy and many of the experiments have things we have around the house. This makes science so approachable and fun for kids!

I’m really not sure what makes these experiments next level, bigger or bolder. I have to admit I was expecting something a little more extreme or cool. These are classic science experiments for kids like sticking pencils in a plastic bag filled with water, “floating” a ping pong ball over a hair dryer, and making rock candy with sugar water on wooden skewers. They are divided into chapters and most of them don’t need a lot of supplies, though you may have to buy some supplies like alum, a black light, borax, etc.

The book is very colorfully illustrated but I really wish it had photos of the experiments or at least drawings of the steps. I really prefer to see what the experiment will look like, including the set up and steps. This just has one basic cartoon drawing that doesn’t really help visual learners. It’s still a fun, educational book though.

I read a temporary digital copy of this book for review.

The perfect rainy day activity book! My kids (5 and 3) could not wait to start the experiments. There were a lot of them that didn't need much prep at all which was great for a last minute activity. The experiments were straightforward and easy to follow.