Books with author Colleen Kessler

Awesome Experiments and Nature Activities You Can Do Without Your Parents Can a worm smell different foods? How much weight can a super-strong bess beetle carry? Are crickets happier alone or with a friend? Would you touch a spider or keep one for a pet? 100 Backyard Activities That Are the Dirtiest, Coolest, Creepy-Crawliest Ever! will teach you how to find the answers to these questions and more, and have tons of fun while you do it! Forget big-city museums, boring books and science games on your computer or tablet―with this book your backyard is your new museum, and grown-ups are only your assistants. You’ll become an expert on bugs, reptiles, birds and plants by getting to know them up close and personal. How cool is that? Colleen Kessler is a teacher and mom whose mission is to share unique and effective ways to ignite a passion in kids for hands-on learning, experimentation, science and creativity. This book does all of that and more―you’ll have fun catching bugs, and your parents will love that you’re gaining important critical-thinking skills and knowledge about science that will help you do well in school. There’s a whole world out there waiting to be discovered . . . take this book with you, go exploring and have a blast spending hours outside.

From ancient times, people have wanted to learn about the sky. The stars, planets, and other heavenly bodies have been observed for centuries, and theories have changed as the equipment used has improved. Though we now know that the Sun is the center of our solar system, and planets and other objects move around it, we still have a lot to learn. What is a comet made of? Why is Pluto now called a dwarf planet? What causes a solar eclipse? A lunar eclipse? This book will help you answer these questions and more. Whether you try the experiments and activities in this book for fun or for a school project, you ll discover why so many people are fascinated by our solar system.

Electricity and magnetism are a huge part of our lives, and we often take these forces for granted. Before eBooks, computers, and remote control toys, though, scientists put a lot of effort into discovering how they worked, and how they could capture that energy to make our lives easier. Through their explorations, the connection and relationship between electricity and magnetism was discovered. Scientists and inventors found ways to bring electricity to the people who wanted and needed it. And, while we benefit from the discoveries that have already been made, there is always more to learn! Whether you try the activities in this book as a fun unit study, as part of your homeschool science lessons, as an extra project for school or a science fair, or just to discover new things, you’ll get an up-close look at electrical and magnetic forces. Enjoy the SHOCKING discoveries you make as you enjoy the PULL of science!

Electricity and magnetism are a huge part of our lives, and we often take these forces for granted. Before eBooks, computers, and remote control toys, though, scientists put a lot of effort into discovering how they worked, and how they could capture that energy to make our lives easier.Through their explorations, the connection and relationship between electricity and magnetism was discovered. Scientists and inventors found ways to bring electricity to the people who wanted and needed it. And, while we benefit from the discoveries that have already been made, there is always more to learn! Whether you try the activities in this book as a fun unit study, as part of your homeschool science lessons, as an extra project for school or a science fair, or just to discover new things, you’ll get an up-close look at electrical and magnetic forces. Enjoy the SHOCKING discoveries you make as you enjoy the PULL of science!

Awesome Experiments and Nature Activities You Can Do Without Your ParentsCan a worm smell different foods? How much weight can a super-strong bess beetle carry? Are crickets happier alone or with a friend? Would you touch a spider or keep one for a pet?100 Backyard Activities That Are the Dirtiest, Coolest, Creepy-Crawliest Ever! will teach you how to find the answers to these questions and more, and have tons of fun while you do it! Forget big-city museums, boring books and science games on your computer or tablet—with this book your backyard is your new museum, and grown-ups are only your assistants. You’ll become an expert on bugs, reptiles, birds and plants by getting to know them up close and personal. How cool is that?Colleen Kessler is a teacher and mom whose mission is to share unique and effective ways to ignite a passion in kids for hands-on learning, experimentation, science and creativity. This book does all of that and more—you’ll have fun catching bugs, and your parents will love that you’re gaining important critical-thinking skills and knowledge about science that will help you do well in school.There’s a whole world out there waiting to be discovered . . . take this book with you, go exploring and have a blast spending hours outside.

Scientists have known for a long time that things move in predictable patterns. It took an apple falling to help further their knowledge, though. We now know how things move and why. Scientists continue to study motion and the forces that cause it, and you can too! In this book, you ll learn about pushes and pulls and different types of energy. The next time you play soccer, you ll be able to use your new scientific knowledge to teach your friends and family why that soccer ball moves the way it does.

What do CDs, lamps, lasers, and microwave ovens all have in common? They all use the power of light and optics! From ancient times when scientists puzzled over the effects of the Sun on Earth to today, where scientists and engineers use lasers to make precise cuts in metal, people have been fascinated by light and optics. In this book, you ll delve into this incredible subject and learn how light can bend and bounce. You ll understand how scientists use light to send data from one side of the world to the other. And, you ll have fun discovering new things to do with flashlights and mirrors. These experiments and activities can be used as a starting point for science fair projects, or you can do them just for fun. Either way, you ll find out a lot about the properties of light!

Electrical and magnetic forces are so much a part of our everyday lives, that we don t often think about how they work or how they are related. Before digital music players and eBook readers were commonplace, though, scientists put a lot of effort into discovering just what these forces were and how to harness their energy in ways that would make life easier. Through their experimentation, they discovered the connection between electrical and magnetic forces. They found ways to bring electricity to people who wanted it. Today, we benefit from these discoveries, but there are always new things to discover! Whether you try the experiments and activities in this book for fun or for a science fair project, you ll get an up-close look at the forces of electricity and magnetism. Enjoy each of the shocking activities in this book as you discover the pull of science!

What do sponges, worms, and mollusks have in common? They re all simple animals. They are also unique, cool, slimy, fun, and (sometimes) creepy! There are hundreds of thousands of different species within these three groups of animals. From the color-changing cuttlefish to foot-long parasitic worms that infect humans and grow underneath their skin, from the colorful underwater sponge to the banana slug, sponges, worms, and mollusks are fun to learn about. In this book, you ll explore these diverse groups of animals through hands-on activities, projects, and experiments. Whether you try the projects for fun or for a science fair, you ll get an up-close and personal view of leeches, earthworms, snails, and more.

Babies crying, school bells ringing, cars roaring by, the ding signaling that a new text message has arrived . . . sounds are all around us, but how are they made? And how do we hear them? Sounds are created when air vibrates, and we hear them because our ears are specially developed to funnel in and process those vibrations. Through the activities and experiments in this book, you ll take a hands-on look at how sounds are made and how they are heard. From salt drums to xylophones and sonic booms, you ll have fun making music and noise and learning a little along the way!

There are over 10,000 species of birds and about 9,000 species of reptiles in the world. Both of these animal groups are wonderfully diverse from the flighted to the flightless and the legged to the legless. Scientists have long debated the relationship between birds and reptiles. Whether or not birds and reptiles are truly related, everyone can agree that there are some physical similarities between the species, from the eggs they both lay to the scales that can be found on their bodies. But what about the differences? Birds have feathers and are warm-blooded. Reptiles slither, crawl, and creep and are cold-blooded. Scientists study these similarities and differences by observing and experimenting, and now you can too. Whether you try the experiments and activities in this book for fun or for a science fair project, you ll get an up-close and personal view of these two incredible types of animals. Are they related? You be the judge!