A dear friend runs a local independent Usborne books store and we often enjoy visiting, attending her story times and projects, and buying books from her. Recently we purchased The Usborne Big Book of Experiments—my husband’s choice—and we were thrilled with the full-colored pictures of experiments, easy instructions, and variety of projects to do with our child.

My husband and I have always been big experimenters. We may not have gone to many—or, in some cases, any—parties, concerts, or traditional dates, but we’ve always found time to, say, start an experiment to see how long it will take our French fries to deteriorate, or compare amounts and prices from stores—while we don’t even have money to buy anything—just to see how much one could potentially save (and for future grocery trips). Our daughter has inherited this love of experimentation, particularly with mechanical operations, and we’re always looking for new ones to do with her.

There are a few mechanical experiments in the book, too—from balancing to floating to finding pressure. But there are also electrical, biological, and many other types of experiments just waiting to be conducted. Most of them require things that you pretty much find around the house, and they’re mostly all safe as well. Red warning signs throughout the book warn the reader when an experiment has the potential to be dangerous.

Some experiments, such as a bubble experiment with vinegar and baking soda, are also right up my daughter’s alley; anything that’s wet and contains food coloring is something that she will love! Many pages also offer multiple experiments, such as testing the quality of water, changing its surface tension, and making it bulge (many of these may be familiar, as I remember doing one of them in school).

The book is sure to make any science geek in training smile—and to provide a lot of fun for the whole family.