June 2009 New Specialty Toys — Science & Nature

Head into the lab for an in-depth investigation of genetics, the branch of biology focused on heredity and variation in organisms, and DNA, the acid that holds the blueprints for life. See genetic material with your own eyes as you isolate the DNA from a tomato in a test tube. Investigate inheritance and learn how traits are passed down from parents to children. Learn about dominant and recessive genes and play inheritance games to determine how traits will be expressed.

Astonish yourself with optical illusions and amazing visual phenomena as you explore the science of human perception in this fascinating kit. Experiment with light and the color spectrum by building a color wheel, a fiber optic peacock, and diffraction glasses. Learn how the eye and a camera are similar and how they are different. Build a camera obscura and pinhole glasses. Investigate lenses and light refraction. Experiment with spatial vision and depth perception with 3D glasses and an Ames room model. Find your blind spot and watch things disappear. Awards: Parent's Choice Award 2010

Find out how Earth’s rotation creates day and night, how Earth’s axis and revolution around the sun causes the seasons, and how the moon’s rotation around Earth gives us the phases of the moon. See for yourself how meteorites formed the craters on the moon. Make a moon flipbook and a moon calendar. Build a sundial and a solar collector to experiment with the sun. Grasp a comet’s tail and learn about how meteoroids become falling stars.  A full-color, 32-page experiment book guides your space exploration.

Core Science MS-1 is a supplemental science curriculum for students entering grades 5 through 8. By performing the experiments in this kit and completing exercises in the accompanying workbook, students will lay the groundwork for success in natural science courses in school. Students will gain familiarity with commonly used science terms, methods, and tools, preparing them for future studies. The full-color, 96-page experiment manual provides illustrated instructions and explanations, and the black-and-white, 48-page workbook guides students through each experiment and allows them to record their findings.

Play the role of archaeologist as you explore this pyramid model and the treasures buried within. After using hieroglyphics to decipher the secret to unlocking the pyramid, use tools and techniques similar to those of a real archaeologist to carefully excavate a sarcophagus, death mask, and four canopic urns from inside. Open the sarcophagus, and you will discover a model mummy preserved within.