Let's Try It Out in the Air - Hardcover

Simon, Seymour; Fauteux, Nicole

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689829183 ISBN 13: 9780689829185

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2001

Synopsis

Presents simple activities and experiments--using everyday household items such as paper, balloons, and sponges--that demonstrate the properties of air by observing the presence of air and the pressure it exerts.

About this title

About the Author

Doug Cushman is best known for his illustrations in the Can't Do series. He created the lovable dinosaur characters you see in this series. He simply can't wait for the next Can't Do book, called What Grandmas Can't Do.

Reviews

PreSchool-Grade 2-These series titles offer fun-filled activities to use as introductions to basic scientific principles. Each book contains notes to parents, teachers, and child-care providers about the types of activities incorporated, readily available materials needed, and working with children to help them make observations with their "bodies and senses." Typically, the titles ask readers to imagine a particular scene, such as being at the beach or outside on a windy day. A series of questions then follows along with some clearly written information and suggestions for simple experiments. For instance, Air challenges readers to see how long they can keep a balloon moving by blowing underneath it. In Water, after imagining they are at the ocean and spot a ship, children are encouraged to make a boat out of foil and place objects on it that previously did not float and report their observations. Cheerful drawings of ethnically diverse youngsters complement the texts by effectively illustrating the concepts and activities. These titles for the youngest scientists will work well in conjunction with the "Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science" series (HarperCollins).
Lisa Gangemi Krapp, Middle Country Public Library, Centereach, NY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Using an oblong format, brief text and simple hands-on activities, Seymour Simon and daughter-in-law Nicole Fauteux launch the Let's Try It Out series and teach basic science concepts with Let's Try It Out in the Air and Let's Try It Out in the Water, both illus. by Doug Cushman. In the first title, an illustration of a boy dangling a limp balloon in front of puzzled pets begs the question: "What happens when you fill a balloon with air?" A suggested activity blowing up a balloon and using it "to play volleyball with your friends" explains why the balloon stays aloft then floats to the ground. The second title asks kids to imagine a day at the beach but features activities they can try in a wading pool or bathtub.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Reviewed with Seymour Simon and Nicole Fauteux's Let's Try It Out in the Water.

Ages 4-9. Why does a small pebble sink in water while a big ship can float? What makes a balloon fly? Why do we smell cookies baking in the oven? How does the stink from a passing garbage truck reach us? The answers are complicated, but these playful picture books do a great job of using hands-on activities in daily life to explain basic science to young children. The book about water is full of splashing fun, teaching the concept of buoyancy by showing kids emptying containers into the sink, sailing boats in a pool, wading in the ocean. The book about air is more difficult, but in both books the writers include helpful information for adults about how to teach the science as an active part of the child's ordinary experience. The exuberant, colorful pictures add to the fun. The same cast of four children appears in both books (with a dog, a mischievous cat, and the occasional adult), exploring their world, asking questions, and then discovering astonishing patterns about how things work. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0689829183
• ISBN 13: 9780689829185
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Cushman Doug
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32