Feature

Science in a Stocking

Christmas can be an enjoyable learning experience for
children and adults alike.

If you want to give a Christmas present that will be remembered this year, instead of one that is broken by Boxing Day or consigned to the farthest reaches of a bottom drawer, try taking a look at the science-related gifts available from your local science centre, museum, observatory or education resource outlet.

If there isn't anything like this near you, then a number of the larger places do offer mail order services and just looking at the catalogues can be an enjoyable activity in itself!

Science Alive! in Christchurch has found its range of mini lab science kits ($19.95) to be very popular with children 8 years and up (including their parents). The kits consist of easy-to-assemble devices and experiments covering different activities such as solar energy, crystal radios and electric motors; more complex versions are available. The Magnetic Explorer ($22.95) is a brightly packaged carry-case full of magnets, steel rods and balls, iron filings -- everything needed to explore the oddities of magnetism.

Chemistry kits are perennial favourites, ranging from small test-tubes full of basic substances through to mini lab sets which come complete with alcohol lamps and glassware. Science Alive! does mail order and will have a catalogue ready in the new year.

Not surprisingly, items from the International Antarctic Centre in Christchurch tend to have an Antarctic or environmental theme, such as soft toys, puzzles and games. Diane Rossiter has three suggestions which she thinks are particularly useful gifts for males, who can be hard to find presents for.

The Finger Boiler pen ($11.50) has a liquid-filled tube which reacts to warmth from the hand, providing an interesting demonstration of heat transfer and pressure as well as being a writing implement.

The Optic Wonder ($16.95) is the Swiss-knife equivalent for the optical world, combining a magnifying glass, binocular lenses, a signal mirror and other items. Word Spin Scramble ($18.95) is an easily played transportable family word game that has won awards.

The Learning Curve in Queenstown recommends Finger Boiler Pens too, as well as the John Adams range of fun science kits, aimed predominantly at 10 years and over. Make a clock from a potato or a build a working pinhole camera, start a rock collection or produce your own slimy stuff and gummy glop with these well-stocked sets, priced between $29.95-$49.95.

If you really want to indulge, try the Capsela range of interconnecting, interchangeable motors, gears, switches, floats, batteries and cranes. The 24 parts in the Capsela 175 ($49.95) lets you build five motorised models, including a propellor vehicle and a mini-buggy. A Programmable Command Center ($159.95) includes parts for building six models and then programming them to respond to light or bumper sensors.

Hocus Pocus shops can be found in Wellington, Palmerston North and on the North Shore in Auckland. They focus on young children's needs, but have a range of science-related kits and toys.

Check out The Warehouse or video outlets for copies of the GeoKids series of videotapes. They're a wonderful collaboration between National Geographic and the Muppets which really do entertain and educate. They've kept my preschoolers happy for hours and hours and hours.

For a present that will last all year, sign children up with Auckland Museum's Dinomites Club. Fifteen dollars provides a year's free entry to the museum's Discovery Centres, including Weird and Wonderful (Natural History) and Treasures and Tales (Human History). There's also a great starter kit (badge, stickers, certificate etc), newsletters and priority notification of the broad range of fun holiday activities which the museum organises. Give yourself a break or go along and learn something too!

See if there's a local naturalists' group, astronomy club, rockhound club or beach guardians' society in your area.

Keen trampers may well appreciate the pocket-sized plant identification guides by Andrew Crowe, published by Viking/Penguin. These 53-page concise, easy-to-use guides cover native ferns, coastal plants, native trees, and native forest shrubs, climbers and flowers (57 pp; $9.95 each), and could make a walk through the bush a more interesting experience. A good pair of binoculars is a boon to anyone keen on birds or stars, particularly when teamed with an appropriate book.

Try your local rock shop or rockhound club for a range of interesting crystals, genuine fossils (from $30 and up), or replica dinosaur remains (teeth, claws and even excrement!).

Give a gift of knowledge with enrolments at appropriate tertiary or night school classes -- many have sessions on local geology, bird life, technology or ecology.

If you're feeling particularly generous or thinking long-term, then a number of organisations, such as Southern Heritage Expeditions, have science-oriented tours such as surveying seal or penguin numbers on remote islands or looking at the ecology and history of Fiordland or the sub-Antarctic islands.

If you're really strapped for cash at Christmas, then a packet of vegetable seeds must be one of the most inexpensive of gifts -- something for the stomach, the mind and the soul!

Vicki Hyde, NZSM

Vicki Hyde is the editor of New Zealand Science Monthly.