Science Gift Guide 2009
Top Holiday Picks from the Exploratorium Store

Snap-on camera lenses made of jelly, explosive science experiments, and renewable energy interactive toys for kids are just some of what the Exploratorium has come up with for the holidays with new gifts that go beyond the everyday. Chosen by the staff of the Exploratorium, the world’s first and foremost hands-on science museum, these toys and gifts make science facts — whether familiar or new — come alive in fun ways. All gifts are found at www.exploratoriumstore.com, or call (415) 561-0393 for phone orders.

All proceeds from the Exploratorium Store support the activities of the Exploratorium. Stop by often — in person or on the web — and take a little science from the Exploratorium home with you for the holidays. Among them are:

Jelly Lens
Create special effects with your mobile phone or digital camera. A suction cup sticks onto the lens of your camera and gives you instant wide angle, kaleidoscope or polarized lens capability. $6.95

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50 Foolproof Equations for Everyday Life
For the hopelessly indecisive and brainiacs lacking basic social skills, now you can solve life’s most vexing problems through mathematics by consulting this book, which is basically like consulting an algebra oracle. The opposite sex, office politics, questions about career – even wardrobe. In a bid towards hysterically-funny-better-living-through-mathematics, it’s all here, plus a calculator to eliminate any margin of error. ($12.95)

Rainbow Sound Blocks
Colorful blocks that kids love to stack and unstack. As they learn sorting and matching colors they MATCH SOUNDS generated by the marbles, wood balls, and other items inserted in each block – learning to associate sounds with size and quantity. Looking through the blocks, single or in combination, children see the world in a number of different colors. Stimulates curiosity, motor skills and color differentiation. For 2 years and up. $36.95

David Macaulay’s The Way Things Work Game
David Macaulay’s famous book is now a game where you solve mechanical problems and that can be played on several levels. As you travel the game board, you collect tools to fill your toolbox. The tools help you solve mechanical problems you may encounter, Use your brain power to answer trivia questions that will help you win. Higher level challenges include physical experiments using cars, ramps, and scales and scientific experiments for those that dare the ultimate game. For ages 10 and up. ($31.95)

Myth Busters Forces of Flight Science Exploration Kit
Jamie and Adam, stars of the hit Discovery Channel series MythBusters, preview a new line. They’ve packed this toolkit with all sorts of strange odds and ends for you to set up twelve of your own experiments and help them by using trial and error and testing your theories to bust some myths around the wonder of flight. Which ideas soar and which crash and burn? Do rockets really launch best when they run of out gas? What do bubbles know about flying? For ages 8 and up. ($19.95)

Hydropower Renewable Energy Science Kit
The first climate awareness science kit of its kind. Explore the power of water by building models and conducting experiments. Build a waterwheel, a sawmill, and a hammer mill to harness the energy of moving water to do different types of work. Construct a hydroelectric power station to general electricity and light an LED. Learn about water’s properties like surface tension, adhesion, and cohesion and about the energy in the ocean waves, tides and rivers, and how to generate emission-free electricity from them. For ages 8 and up. ($49.95)

ReadyMade
How To Make {Almost} Everything – A Do-It-Yourself Primer
Shoshana Berger and Grace Hawthorne, the founders of ReadyMade magazine, have put their DIY sensibility into a book. They offer up a sophisticated, clever, and raw approach to design, guaranteed to thrill and inspire modern do-it yourselfers of any age. Theirs is a reuse/recycle revolutionary aesthetic that combines spit and glue to make everyday objects into spellbinding inventions and make you smarter, better looking and well adjusted. This guide to projects for the whole family has a 50’s garage tinkerer’s sensibility and even includes exercises to avoid the need for a facelift. ($25.00)

Theo Gray’s Mad Science
Experiments You Can Do at Home – But Probably Shouldn’t
Theo Gray writes Popular Science’s “Gray Matter.” This book demonstrates scientific principles through extreme experiments, illustrated with full color photos. Learn to launch a toy rocket with the energy released from an Oreo cookie or how to get your party started by adding 500 pounds of quicklime to water to create a homemade hot tub. This is the perfect book for anyone fascinated by all things electrical, chemical, or explosive, and who loves a vicarious thrill. ($24.95)

Happy Hopping Frog Robotikits
This hopping frog robot comes in a simple kit you build yourself and is activated by the sun. For ages 10 and up. ($14.95)