TOS Crew Review: Amazing Science DVD

 

I've mentioned that my kids love science. And they REALLY love it when they get to do "experiments". Of course, they have this annoying, boring mommy who is abit leary of things blowing up and ummm huge messes and stuff so they don't get to do nearly as many experiments as they'd like.

So when we got the chance to review a DVD full of easy science experiments it seemed like a win-win! They get to see tons of COOL experiments, and I get to NOT have the mess, or potential explosions!

Amazing Science! Volume 1 from ScienceandMath.com is 2 DVDs full of easy experiments you can do at home! Some of my kids' favorite  experiments from this volume include:

• Color changing milk
• Build a Lemon Battery
• Unburnable money

Each experiment is simple and to the point. I love that, even on days we're running short on time, we can still fit in time to watch one or two of these experiments.

For each experiment Jason (the . . . guy on the video, I'm not sure what to call him . . .the host? the scientist? the video guy?) tells the viewer what they will need, mostly things you'd already have around the house, sometimes some simple ingredients from the grocery or hardware store. Then he does the experiment. Finally, he explains why/how it works.

What I like:

• Quick, short, I can pop the video in when we're short on time.
• The kids LOVE it!
• The experiments ARE cool, I want to try them too!
• The experiments are low-mess and don't use tons of specialized stuff that I can't easily pick up during normal errands.

What I think could be improved:

• Even though the ingredients are usually simple and easy to come by, I would have loved to be able to print out a list, either from the website or by sticking the DVD into my computer, and have the stuff on hand when we watched it. 
• I noticed at least one time where he says "heck", I think it was in the context of "how the heck did that work" or something like that. Not a huge deal, but I know some families would object.
• Along the same lines, in at least one of the experiments he suggests that you could "bet someone" that you could put paper underwater without it getting wet. He then explains the experiment (which IS pretty cool!!!), and at the end says something along the lines of "so you can do that and then tell the person you bet 'the paper's not wet, now pay up!".  Not an issue for me, but again, I know some families would consider this to be "gambling", and object.

All in all, I would recommend this as a fun video for any child who enjoys science. Alternately, even if your child does NOT enjoy science, this might be a fun resource for the parent to watch, and then impress their child(ren) by doing some of the experiments together.  You can purchase the DVD (actually 2 DVDs in one case) for $19.95 or a download for $17.99. Science and Math.com also has a variety of math DVDs and some Physics and Chemistry DVDs.

To see what other crew members thought of these DVDs, check out their reviews here.

Disclaimer: I received the above mentioned product in exchange for writing an honest review. No other compensation was received and all opinions are those of myself or my children, as stated.