Science Toys Offer Educational Gift-Giving Choices

The holiday shopping deluge is under way, and researchers are not immune to the rush. There are sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, grandchildren, and the kids of friends and colleagues to consider. How can one please young people with fun gifts that won't turn their brains to mush? Science can help. Toy stores and other retailers sell a variety of items, both classic and new, that can pique youngsters' curiosity and hold their attention. While science educators warn gift-givers to beware of kits and sets that promise far more education and fun than they deliver, they also say the right toy can light a fire that is never extinguished. FOND MEMORIES: Berkeley geneticist Michael Levine recalls that a microscope whetted his interest in science. "A lot of my colleagues get tears in their eyes when they [recall] that first chemistry kit. It transformed them," says Michael Levine, a professor of genetics at the University of California, Berkeley. "For me, it was the microscope all the way." HANDS-ON: Interactive science toys are the most educational, according to chemist Bassam Shakhashiri. "Nowadays there are more chemistry sets available than there used to be. That's good," notes Bassam Z. Shakhashiri, a professor of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Others point out that such sets are safer and more interactive than previous versions, and Shakhashiri adds: "Science centers and museums are good sources of such items." He also notes that one can find science-related gifts by searching the Internet. Shakhashiri will appear on PBS next month in the 27th edition of Once Upon a Christmas Cheery in the Lab of Shakhashiri, his annual holiday chemistry demonstration and lecture (check local listings). He emphasizes that the best science toys are those that play up "the importance of hands-on experiences," and many education researchers agree with him. Edward Scheinerman, a professor of mathematical sciences at Johns Hopkins University, prefers Legos and building blocks for his four young children, but also bought them a microscope. "It's fun because occasionally kids find stuff in the backyard, and they throw it under there and take a look at it," he states. "Like everything it comes in and out of fashion. We won't see it for a month or two, then it'll come out for a few times, then it'll go back. But they definitely like it." Good toys allow children to use multiple senses and explore, according to Mickey Sarquis, an associate professor of chemistry at Miami University of Ohio's Middletown campus and director of its Center for Chemical Education. To her, the optimum toy "challenges the children to apply some creative thinking skills, to use the scientific method, if you will." "Science to children is automatically fun," adds Sarquis. "Kids by their very nature like to explore, like to investigate, like to ask questions. They like to seek answers to their questions by doing." The desire to explore may help to explain the long-standing popularity of a handful of traditional science toys: chemistry sets, microscopes, and telescopes. Elliot Glanz, the president of Natural Science Industries (NSI) of West Hempstead, N.Y., offers a simple formula for the successful science toy: "One, we want to educate children. And two, it must entertain children. If it doesn't entertain them, they think they're back in school. Three, it has to be simple so they can get some quick gratification and stimulate their interest in science." NSI's biggest sellers are its microchemistry sets. According to Glanz, the company's MicroChem line cuts down on potential dangers by including smaller amounts of chemicals than do traditional sets, and eliminating burners and glassware. "As the years go by, worldwide it'll be microchemistry for the elementary and junior-high and high-school levels," he predicts. The advantage of chemistry kits is that they create an interactive experience, notes Sarquis. "The child can mix several things together and end up with a mixture or have a reaction occur, so the child's involved in doing the chemistry, making the observation." PET WORMS: Growing worms and ants in an indoor habitat allows children to observe and to learn about ecology. James Wagner, the chairman of the materials science and engineering department at Johns Hopkins University and the father of two girls, ages 13 and 10, adds that the traditional science toys are fun for more than just children: "Some of the standards, like telescopes, are great for parent-child involvement. You set it up and you focus on Saturn. They can see those rings, and that's a wow." Berkeley geneticist Levine still recalls the first microscope he received when he was about nine years old. "That was my favorite thing," he remembers. "My favorite activity to this day is looking under the microscope." However, Levine's two sons, ages six and eight, have not taken to the microscope as their father did and are still too young for a chemistry set. The solution for Levine was a magnifying glass and some stones dating from 250 million years ago. "Fossils and a good magnifying glass have been really successful in terms of encouraging them to probe nature," he contends. However, parents looking for something more than just the old standbys have options. In addition to microscopes and telescopes, for example, FAO Schwarz, the New York-based chain, sells worm kits, Ultimate Glow Boxes (which project more than 1,000 celestial bodies onto a darkened room's ceiling and walls), and sea monkey sets. JUST ADD WATER: Sea Monkey sets come with Artemia nyos eggs and allow kids to watch brine shrimp develop. "Let's teach kids about ecology, and what better way to do it than their own in-home habitat for worms?" states FAO Schwarz buyer Claudia Sandoval. "They're not huge, huge items per se, but it's a very significant portion of our science business. A lot of our customers are coming back to that." Sarah Lewis, the 12-year-old daughter of a biologist, recently received a sea monkey set, which allows kids to insert Artemia nyos eggs into water and track the growth of the creatures-which are small brine shrimp-once they hatch. She reports that after some initial disappointment caused by the toy's delayed reaction, she is much happier now: "I added the purified water and the eggs, and I waited, but nothing happened at first. I got mad. But then the monkeys appeared, and now they are swimming all over. All I have to do now is feed them once a week." Specialty stores, too, offer an alternative. Bestsellers at Einstein Presents of Mind in Philadelphia include crystal-growing sets as well as kits that focus on weather, the solar system, and building one's own radio. "The big thing about a toy is to inspire somebody to go further," declares Einstein president Wilbur Pierce, who calls himself the store's "coordinator of imagination." According to researchers, toy stores are not the only sources for good science gifts. "Go to museum shops," Sarquis advises. "They tend to stock the kinds of toys that tend to be interactive." STAMPS OF APPROVAL: Museums like the Smithsonian Institute license their names and logos for toys with scientific relevance. The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., licenses its name and logo to toy manufacturers, whose products must pass muster with officials at the institution's various museums. Glanz's company, NSI, is the Smithsonian's largest licensee, with 17 items currently being sold with the institution's logo. Nathan Erwin, manager of the O. Orkin Insect Zoo at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History, asserts that projects must have real scientific relevance to merit his approval. "What I look for is, is the person who buys really going to get something out of it or is it very tenuous?" If there is too much of a stretch from the product to its educational outcome, Erwin does not "want to invest time and effort" on it. On sale at the Museum of Science in Boston and the Exploratorium in San Francisco, among other places, is the TwiddleFish, invented by Charles Pell, director of the BioDesign Studio in Duke University's department of zoology. Pell and a colleague were using fish models to research fish locomotion when they discovered a way to make the model swim without any moving parts. Thus was born the TwiddleFish, a small, rubber fish with a stiff cable sticking out of its head. By inserting the toy in water and moving the cable back and forth between thumb and forefinger, a person can mimic actual fish movements-including darting, turning, and leaping out of the water. "It talks to your brain stem," Pell says, describing the TwiddleFish's movement. "The whole point is that it's real. It doesn't have any batteries or moving parts. You don't have to kill any aliens. It's not spoon-fed TV. . . . Good science toys reward hands-on play with surprises-they teach us about our world and ourselves." Likewise, Wagner points out that the best science toys offer "surprise, amazement, and connectivity"; that is, fun aspects as well as an explanatory connection to other phenomena. He once purchased for his children a kit of owl pellets, which are what remains of the birds' prey after their digestive system has stripped the carcass of every digestible part. "You can pull out the entire skeleton of a mouse," Wagner marvels. "It's natural science, but it also smacks of archaeology, with the bones. This was one that for some reason really captured their imagination. Since then, my youngest loves to go walking through the woods looking for bones and feathers." Similarly, children who receive butterfly kits and grow their own insects from larvae will experience the connection between their experiments and what happens in nature, Pierce maintains. "Every time the child sees a butterfly, they recognize it as their own," he states. "A butterfly may only live a few days, but in the child's mind, that butterfly lives forever." Another option is do-it-yourself science, what Wagner terms "home-brewed things." Shakhashiri and others point out that bookstores carry CD-ROMs and guides to recommended experiments. Sarquis, for example, coauthored a 300-page book called Teaching Chemistry With TOYS (Middletown, Ohio: Terrific Science Press, 1995), based on a National Science Foundation-funded program of the same name that she runs. "TOYS" is an acronym for "Terrific Opportunities for Youth in Science." "To be challenged is not a bad word," Sarquis adds. "We want to emphasize the personal pleasure one can get in being challenged. Science can allow that to happen." FAO Schwarz buyer Sandoval points out that as nostalgic baby boomers become parents, they yearn to pass on portions of their childhoods to their own kids. "We're very big on science and on traditional science because we know that parents are going back to classic toys and classic science-related products they played with in their youth," she says. Observers note that the trick is to find the right combination of elements; when that happens, the result is magic. "It's always got to be fun," stresses James Lewis, the product manager of the Smithsonian's office of product development and licensing. "If you've been out to the market, there's a number of stores out there that do educational products. When you go into the stores this time of year-which really shows what they think they can sell-what really catches the customer's eye is the fun stuff. No matter how educational it is, if it's not fun, it won't sell. You look at a program like 'Bill Nye the Science Guy,' that Disney puts on, and things like that-it's fun. It's imparting a lot of information, but in a way kids will enjoy." But equally important is that these are science toys. "What makes a good education toy for us?" asks Erwin, the Smithsonian's insect zoo manager. "It's trying to reflect what goes on here at the insect zoo and some spillover with what goes on here at the museum with research on other insects. "With scientific accuracy actually comes beauty," he continues, "because over millions of years of evolution, these animals have acquired certain physical characteristics, whether it's various shapes and forms or colors, [that] are very beautiful and eye-catching. Not only is it something that's beautiful to look at, it's also accurate and biologically correct." As a result, according to Pierce, children learn without realizing it. "Of everything that's available in a toy store, science is the most intriguing," he contends. "A toy is to science what O. Henry was to the short story. There's always a trick ending. You get a surprise at the end. People want to be entertained. They want to be surprised. People don't want to be educated. It's anathema." "Have a ball, be safe, and learn a ton about nature," Pell concludes. "That's my idea of a great science-related toy."

Science Toys Offer Educational Gift-Giving Choices

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