The Pocket Book of Backyard Experiments Discover the Laboratory in Your Garden

A handy, charmingly designed book filled with more than eighty experiments for the whole family--discover, learn, and enjoy a better understanding of basic garden science.

From testing garden soil to making a homemade battery out of a potato, this book reveals the hidden science at work in the garden and around the house.

The book is divided into four sections, each focusing on one area: biology, soil science, botany, and "kitchen sink" chemistry. Each experiment is straightforward and easy, involving no more than common household items. Learn how to germinate seeds with little more than envelopes and used egg cartons or amaze friends with the art of optical illusion. While learning how to create a homemade ant farm or making a pressed herbarium specimen, kids get grounded in the basic principles of science.

The experiments have been designed as participatory learning activities that bring kids and family members together with the aim of developing young people's learning skills, interest in science, and the world around them.

Dr. Helen Pilcher has a PhD in cell biology from the London Institute of Psychiatry and has written for Nature, the Guardian, BBC Focus, and New Scientist.