Waves: Physical Science for Kids

Inane. Heavy coiled metal rope a hazard for younger children. Also a packaged thick cord is unnecessary. Take out any simple text on waves from library and teach children about wave forms.

Waves are easy to understand and read! My.grandson studied it and loved it!

I bought WAVES (and ENERGY) for my science-obsessed nephew, and both are a big, big hit. Love the way different kinds of waves are explored (waves in the ocean, in the baseball stadium, in amber grain, etc.), and LOVE the 'try this' call-outs that invite kids to take science in their own hands.

Works Great!

This set of books introduce kids to physical science in a fun way. Great illustrations!

Great gift for kids.

This book talks about all kinds of different types of waves, but it really doesn't explain them well. In the entire book, there isn't even a single drawing of a basic sound wave, etc. Nothing to show what that shape is like. The kids are left to figure out the concept themselves from the examples given. Unfortunately, the first example given is of waving hello, so we have a shaky foundation.The book is more a picture dictionary of different ways the word "wave" can be used in speech. There are no good scientific explanations. I love good picture science books for kids, but unfortunately, this just isn't one of them.

Overall, I thought this was a cute book, and I do like that it successfully reinforced the up-and-down shape of waves. I also liked the little illustrative activities peppered throughout.But I’m afraid the illustrations reinforced the common usage of the word instead of illustrating the scientific principles at work. I think insets or overlap with technical illustrations would better marry the scientific with general meaning here. Neither my daughter nor I got a better understanding of what waves actually are/do—just that they exist in various forms and are tied to energy, which is a pretty abstract concept for an adult, let alone a little kid. And I definitely think starting and ending the book with a hand-wave—but never explicitly saving that has a totally different meaning and even shape—muddies the waters further.