bill nye science guy experiments

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Bill Nye's Virtual Reality Science Kit For Kids

VR Science Kit

WINNER - STEAM TOY OF THE YEAR!

Discover science with Bill Nye "The Science Guy" in this interactive science kit! 50+ piece set includes an 80 page project book loaded with 30 hands-on experiments, including VR goggles that teleport you into Bill's lab in virtual reality!

Free app compatible with all smart phones in Google Play and Apple iOS stores!

Also available from our retail partners

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Join Bill Nye as we take on some of his favorite science projects and experiments, with step-by-step instructions that come alive in augmented reality! Then put on the included VR goggles to step into Bill's virtual lab! Fly over volcanoes, dive into a crystal cave, ride a hot air balloon and more while discovering the wonders of science, with the most amazing science kit ever made, and now WINNER of Toy of the Year, Bill Nye's VR Science kit!

STEP-BY-STEP AUGMENTED REALITY!

Join Bill Nye as we take on some of the coolest aspects of science, like density as we build a lava lamp, oxidation as copper changes color, chemical reactions as things explode (safely) and more as interactive lessons come alive in AR!

360 VIRTUAL REALITY!

Teleport into Bill Nye's immersive lab as we break down the science behind some of his favorite projects in virtual reality!

AWESOME PROJECTS ONLY PLEASE.

• Lemon Battery
• extracting color
• Gooey Slime
• Heat Rising
• TRAPPING GAS

Let's Make a Battery!

Use the included wires and LED light to convert the citric acid found inside household lemons and create your very own circuit to generate light!

Pull Things apart!

We've seen what happens when you mix colors to create a new color, but have you ever taken a color and reversed the process to see which colors are inside it? Mind blown!

Is slime science?

Yep, believe it or not, slime is actually science! A lot of polymers need to react and get along with one another for slime to work, and even more goes into making it just right!

Why does heat rise?

Have you ever walked upstairs and noticed how much warmer it gets? That's because heat rises, while cold air finds it's way down to the basement! Let's learn more about this in a hot air balloon in virtual reality!

Who ever smelt it...

When people talk about trapped gas it's usually about something a little more stinky but carbon dioxide is always looking for a way out, we might as well make it fun!

My Favorites!

I've designed this kit to take on some of the most important aspects of science, and trust when I say that I guaranteed we'll have fun along the way, so what are you waiting for?!

VR ACTIVITY SET INCLUDES...

This 50 piece set includes everything you need, like beakers, measuring cups, baking soda, paint brush and much more to dive in and experience the projects right out of the box

Explore More Kits!

Bill Nye's Virtual Reality Space Science Kit

Professor Maxwell's Virtual Reality World Travel Activity Kit

Professor Maxwell's Virtual Reality Science Kit for Kids

STEAM LAB VR PRESENTS

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Bill Nye’s home demos

'The Science Guy' has lots of experiments for you to try at home!

Resource location: https://billnye.com/home-demos/

Are you a teacher or parent?

If you've found this resource useful, you can share it here, and browse any additional teaching materials for this resource.

‘The Science Guy’ has lots of experiments for you to try at home! From nerves to hole-y water, eggs- Speriments to marbling, Bill’s got plenty for you to explore.

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The Science Guy: Five of Bill Nye’s Most Memorable Experiments

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Bill Nye, one of the most well-known scientists in the last couple of decades, has performed many experiments over the years for audiences of all ages. They range from frivolous and fun to serious science, and hold attention like few scientists can. Though by no means a comprehensive list, these are some of the most memorable of experiments performed by The Science Guy himself:

Atmospheric Pressure

Encouraging his makeshift assistant to wear protective eyewear despite the low chance of danger for this particular experiment, Nye demonstrates atmospheric pressure with water and a large piece of plastic tubing. He explains that gravity is the cause for atmospheric pressure, all the while pouring water into the large tube, swirling it to aid in the creation of water vapor, and drops in a pair of lit matches to extinguish in the water and create dust particles. After removing some of the air from the tube by hooking a vacuum pump to a cap on the end, he removes the cap quickly, and the tube suddenly fills with an artificial cloud.

Liquid Nitrogen

Bill plays with liquid nitrogen on a few occasions, but in this experiment , he puts on a show for a middle school 20 years out from beginning his television show. He begins with a few facts, then pours liquid nitrogen into a beaker. After explaining how the substance behaves, he pours it from the beaker onto the floor, and to the students’ delight, it disappears in a puff of vapor.

Playing With Fire

After creating a flammable gas with wooden swizzle sticks, burning sugar with a blowtorch, and causing a spectacular display by simply mixing sugar with potassium nitrate and setting it ablaze, Nye moves on to what he calls a "practical application" of this particular experiment . He inserts a rag baseball into a plastic tube and places a few drops of petroleum naphtha in with it. By igniting a spark at the end of the tube, he fires the ball at enormously high speed into a baseball mitt mounted on a pole, knocking it over.

With a large, plastic garbage bin decked out with a plastic membrane over the top and a hole cut in the bottom, The Science Guy aims to demonstrate how air vortexes work. Across the room, he lights a candle, declaring that he’ll extinguish it with nothing but the air from his homemade vortex creator. His assistant attempts to do so, making the flame only shudder. With some fine tuning by the scientist himself, he finally extinguishes the candle. Perhaps the more exciting part of the experiment lies in his demonstration of the vortex, making it visible with fog pumped into the mechanism.

After explaining the principles behind implosion, Nye and his sketch show assistant approach a 55 gallon oil drum that has been heated over a propane burner. After putting a cap on so that the steam inside can’t escape, he moves the drum over a kiddie pool filled with ice water. Tipping the drum over and rolling it to begin cooling it, the ends make resounding popping sounds as they begin to collapse inward. In a startling display that makes even Bill himself jump, the drum crushes inward as if it’s nothing more than a soda can.

Over the years, Nye has wowed thousands of onlookers with his passion and creativity when it comes to science. His star power, charisma, and smarts are undeniable, and he is surely one of the most beloved scientists (or humans period) of all time. All signs point to him continuing his brilliant career in enlightening the general public to the wonders of science for many years to come.

The information for this article was provided by the science experts at Microscope.com, where you can learn how compound microscopes work .

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AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Meet mr. wizard, television’s original science guy.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Don Herbert broadcast some of the most mesmerizing, and kooky, science experiments from his garage

Anika Gupta

It's an open argument of who was more famous at the time: the ascerbic comedian debuting a brand-new late-night comedy show on NBC or the show business veteran of the 1950s and '60s who entertained children with science. But when Don "Mr. Wizard" Herbert made an appearance on David Letterman's premiere episode on February 1, 1982, it was clear that the renowned science educator could entertain audiences of any age.

As Herbert inflated a baby bottle nipple using soda water, with Letterman commenting with his characteristic shtick, the audience roared in approval. It was just another example of Mr. Wizard explaining phenomena like electricity and air pressure with the aid of everyday materials like eggs, bottles, spoons and straws.

From 1951 to 1965, Herbert hosted “Watch Mr. Wizard,” a half-hour weekly show. Broadcast from his garage studio, the program was geared towards children, but kids weren’t his only fans. In addition to Letterman, Herbert’s copious fan mail includes paeans from parents all over the country, as well as a letter from a woman who began, “If I don’t write this, I’ll explode.”

A large collection of his documents and photos were recently donated to the Archives Center of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History by Herbert’s step-daughter and her husband, Kristen and Tom Nikosey. A small selection from the archive is on display through October 2, 2015, in the museum's newly renovated west wing, but the bulk of the materials are available by appointment.

A quick browse through the archive turns up Herbert’s original episode notes, which include detailed photos and instructions for many of his on-air demonstrations. On one of the pages for the egg-in-a-bottle experiment (which he performs second in the Letterman clip), a handwritten margin note says, “Do Wiz version—lit match atop shelled egg into inverted milk bottle.”

Herbert’s notes reveal an educator who was particular about science, but also about spectacle. He operated at a time when television had enabled more visual storytelling. Most kids’ programming was still cartoons.

“His importance was to make science comfortable for children,” says Marcel LaFollette, a Smithsonian researcher and historian who has written a  book  about science on American television. “He was interested in science, but he liked being dramatic.” Herbert enjoyed the worlds of science and entertainment; where others might have seen tension, he saw opportunity. He studied secondary education (with a focus on English and general science) in college in Wisconsin, but his extracurricular work was in theater.

Some of his contemporaries—including  Lynn Poole , who hosted an award-winning weekly live science show from 1948 through 1955 called the “Johns Hopkins Science Review”—embraced esoteric subjects. Poole invited scientists onto his show as guests. Not so with Mr. Wizard.

“When you watch Poole he’s a natural on TV but you don’t have a feeling that he’s talking to the 7- and 8-year-olds in the room, he’s speaking as if to an adult,” says LaFollette.

By contrast, Herbert and a child assistant would do experiments with materials like balloons and eggs. NBC cancelled  Watch Mr. Wizard  in 1965, but the show was revived as  Mr. Wizard’s World   on Nickelodeon in 1983.

“He said, ‘don’t let those producers put you in a lab coat,’” says Steve Spangler , a television veteran who has appeared on the "Ellen DeGeneres Show" and been nominated for multiple Emmy awards. Back in 1991, when Spangler got his first TV job hosting a show for children, he called Don Herbert. Herbert’s advice about lab coats, says Spangler, went beyond the cosmetic.

“He said, ‘you need to make science accessible to the masses. A lab coat can put people off—kids don’t like that. That’s why [my set] wasn’t called my lab, it was called my garage, and we used household materials, not lab gear,’” Herbert told Spangler.

On one occasion, Spangler says, Herbert struggled with the line between science and entertainment. One of Herbert’s “signature” demonstrations—the one with the expanding baby bottle nipple, shown in the Letterman clip—made for great TV, but Spangler says that Herbert later lamented that the experiment was more notable for its “gee whiz” element than for the principles it actually teach.

Still, Herbert’s style and delivery made a profound impression on young viewers, as did his use of everyday materials in his experiments. In 1952, he got a letter from a group of young viewers in Jacksonville, Florida, who wanted to “start a Mr. Wizard Science club.”

The club, which met at one of the boys’ houses, tried to replicate Herbert’s experiments. Herbert’s publicity team wrote back, sending the fledgling group a set of membership cards and a charter. The correspondence between the fans and the celebrity lasted years, and over time more clubs formed. Those fan clubs would eventually count more than 100,000 members, according to an NBC promotional article from the time. In 1956, one of the original Jacksonville founders wrote to Herbert again, beginning his letter by saying, “maybe you do not remember me. Like you say, I am fourteen now and like the other “Pioneers” have become interested in girls and ‘Rock & Roll’ music. . . . Although our club does no longer exist, science is still very interesting to me.”

Herbert replied: “I certainly do remember you. . . there are now 5,000 MR. WIZARD Science Clubs in this country, Canada, Mexico and Hawaii and, in a way, you are responsible for them, having suggested the idea.”

In another fan letter, a mother thanks Herbert for having answered a cold call from her 5-year-old son: “[His siblings] told him if he wanted to call he would have to do so all by himself. . . . The operator told him to dial 411 which he did, got your number and spoke to you.”

None of Herbert’s predecessors or contemporaries achieved that kind of resonance with children, says LaFollette. His relationships with his fans proved his most enduring legacy. Even in the archives, Herbert’s fan mail is some of the best reading, says archivist Alison Oswald, who catalogued and organized much of the 27-cubic-foot collection that fills several dozen neatly organized boxes. Early fan letters are handwritten or typed on crumbling paper, harking back to a time when people still used the post to communicate, while later ones include printouts of emails.

For the Nikoseys, who made the donation, Don Herbert’s public history has become their personal mission. They run the website MrWizardStudios and they keep up with some of Herbert’s most devoted fans.

“People still keep in touch with us,” says Tom Nikosey , a graphic designer. He says that he recently tracked down the author of a piece of Herbert’s fan mail, and had a long conversation with him. “He raved about Mr. Wizard, and we had this really wonderful exchange.”

Herbert passed away in 2007. In an obituary that ran in the  Los Angeles Times , he got an ovation from someone who’s followed in his footsteps: the science educator Bill Nye. Nye wrote, “If any of you reading now have been surprised and happy to learn a few things about science watching "Bill Nye the Science Guy," keep in mind, it all started with Don Herbert. . . [he] changed the world.”

"Mr. Wizard," a display of documents and archival materials from the popular television science educator is on view through October 2, 2015 at the National Museum of American History.

Science on American Television: A History

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Anika Gupta | | READ MORE

Anika Gupta’s writing has appeared in India and the United States, including in Business Today magazine, where she served as its first digital content editor, the Hindustan Times newspaper and Smithsonian magazine. Currently, she is a Master's student at MIT, where she studies user-generated content and mainstream media culture. She's also a science writer, media blogger, and essayist.

14 Deductive Facts About Bill Nye, the Science Guy

Consider the following: Through careful observation, you may have learned a number of things about William Sanford "Bill" Nye over the years—that he’s a famously funny scientist, educator, and author, perhaps, or that his 2013 stint on Dancing With The Stars ended with injury and a final performance to “Get Lucky” that left judges lukewarm. His public appearances and the show Bill Nye the Science Guy are just the tip of the iceberg, though. Here are a few facts that even the most Nye-hard fans might not know.

1. HIS MOTHER WAS A WORLD WAR II CODEBREAKER AND A SCIENCE WHIZ.

Jacqueline Jenkins-Nye was finishing up her psychology degree at Goucher College in 1942 when she and several other young women were called to the dean’s office for a hush-hush meeting. The U.S. Secretary of War was scouring women’s colleges “seeking their best and brightest for a project so secret that none of the participants was allowed to know its purpose,” according to The Baltimore Sun . After graduation, Jenkins joined an elite group of people whose work as cryptanalysts, or codebreakers, helped finally crack the Japanese and German militaries’ very crafty communication codes .

Science, education, and dedication were major themes throughout her long life and career—ones that had an “infinite, immeasurable” influence on her son, Nye told The Baltimore Sun :

"She taught me how to cook—and how to make the famous family salad dressing that her grandmother taught her to make, which was pure chemistry. She taught me how to sew, even. To this day, I still own a sewing machine. And to this day, I can still hear her chanting in my ear: 'Sit up straight! Shoulders back! Now train, train, train! Do it till you get it right!'"

2. HE WENT TO SIDWELL FRIENDS SCHOOL IN HIS HOMETOWN OF WASHINGTON, D.C.

In an opinion essay he wrote for the Huffington Post in 2009, Nye said that he attended D.C.’s Sidwell Friends School—a private Quaker institution where Chelsea Clinton, Sasha and Malia Obama, and many other politicians' kids have studied—for middle and high school. Nye attended Sidwell thanks to a partial scholarship and his parents’ determination, which helped him transfer from a public school where classrooms were packed, spitballs flew freely, and bullies harassed bussed-in students from nearby schools that “were really not separate, and most especially not equal,” Nye wrote.

3. HE TOOK A CLASS WITH CARL SAGAN ...

While at Cornell University, Nye took an Astronomy class taught by Carl Sagan, and the older man’s enthusiasm and penchant for innovation helped ignite Nye’s lifelong charge to achieve the same. At a reunion years later, Nye also mentioned his TV plans to Sagan, and received good, matter-of-fact advice from his former professor that would help make Bill Nye the Science Guy such a success: "Focus on pure science. Kids resonate to pure science."

4. ... AND FOLLOWED IN HIS FOOTSTEPS.

Nye became a member of The Planetary Society , an organization dedicated to extraterrestrial exploration that was co-founded by Sagan in 1980. After taking on other roles in the organization following Sagan’s death, as Nye explained to NOVA , "There was a dinner party, there was wine, or something, and now I'm the CEO, I'm the head guy of the Planetary Association, so Carl Sagan is deep within me. I am part of his legacy.”

5. HE APPLIED REPEATEDLY TO BE AN ASTRONAUT.

Nye applied four times for NASA’s astronaut training program, but he was always rejected, which he blamed on his lack of a Ph.D. (Nye has a degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell.) Or, maybe, he joked to AOL last year, “it could be because I was completely unqualified.”

6. HE'S MADE HIS MARK ON MARS, THOUGH.

Nye was part of a team that designed the MarsDial , a tool installed on the Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity rovers that helps calibrate color in photos taken of the planet from inside its thinner, different-colored atmosphere.

7. NYE HAS A NEED FOR SPEED.

"I really like to go fast,” Nye told the St. Petersburg Times , “but you know how many speeding tickets I have? That's right. Zero. A car is a weapon. If you have a loaded gun you have to treat it with respect. The same is true of a car, and I'm not saying that I won't get a speeding ticket this afternoon, I'm not saying that I'm some kind of driving genius, but I do respect it and understand how fabulously dangerous it is."

Aside from his love of speed, Nye is a huge proponent of electric vehicles, and has even called for NASCAR to get on Team Green and use electric whips instead of gas-guzzlers.

8. HIS HIT TV SHOW WAS BASED ON A COMEDY SKETCH.

Prior to making a splash with Bill Nye the Science Guy in 1993, Nye was doing his quirky-yet-educational experiments on the comedy show Almost Live, which aired on Seattle NBC affiliate KING-TV from 1984 to 1999. In one 1990 Almost Alive episode (above), he uses the studio’s less-than-professional-grade equipment (or, as Nye puts it, its “Mickey-Mouse Science Guy” setup) to tease chemistry lessons out of glasses of Coca Cola for the benefit of the show’s live audience and the scene’s less-than-impressed host. In addition to being the show’s go-to science expert, he also filled out the heroic role of “ Speed Walker ” on the program.

9. THE RENOWNED SCIENTIST IS “KOOKY” FOR STEVE MARTIN.

In addition to his shenanigans on TV, Nye’s comedic resume includes a decade of performing stand-up, and he’s quick to cite his “hero” Steve Martin as a major influence. "I'm kooky for Steve," he told the St. Petersburg Times in 1999. "I hope to meet him someday. I wrote him a note, but I never heard back from him: ‘Dear Steve, I'm Bill Nye. I owe my career to you. I'd like to buy you lunch sometime. Your friend, Bill.' … I'm sure he's like, ‘This guy's insane. He's a stalker.'" Before he became famous as the Science Guy, Nye even won a Steve Martin lookalike contest .

10. HE MADE A BACK TO THE FUTURE TV SHOW WITH CHRISTOPHER LLOYD ...

From 1991 to 1992, Nye helped organize live-action science experiments on Back to the Future: The Animated Series as Christopher Lloyd’s (nonspeaking) onscreen assistant.

11. ... AND HAD A HAND IN BATTLEBOTS, NUMB3RS, AND STARGATE: ATLANTIS.

Given his range of talents, it might not be too surprising that Nye has played a number of roles in bringing science-friendly programming to the small screen. From 2000 to 2002, he served as the technical expert on the robot fighting show BattleBots , while a math education lecture he gave helped inspire the detective show Numb3rs and led to his recurring cameos on it. In his free time, he also produced Solving for X , an algebra-teaching series of DVDs, and even showed up in an episode of Stargate: Atlantis to give one character a little nerd-style bullying with the help of Neil deGrasse Tyson.

12. HE’S BEEN CAMPAIGNING FOR BETTER EDUCATION FOR DECADES.

Nye promotes education shape-ups and the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning any chance he gets—and he makes sure there are plenty. In addition to speaking and writing widely on the topics, he’s a frequent speaker at conferences of the National Science Teachers Association . In 2000, shortly after a study ranking the world's schools was released, Nye told audiences that "If the U.S. was ranked 17th in the world in track and field or in Olympic swimming [instead of science and math abilities among eighth-graders], there would be a tremendous outcry ... Imagine the money that would be spent to fix that."

13. HE AND ED BEGLEY JR. ONCE ENGAGED IN A BATTLE TO HAVE THE GREENEST HOUSE.

Nye has put a lot of time and thought into making his house as eco-friendly as possible, and when they lived next door to each other, he and actor/environmentalist Ed Begley, Jr. enjoyed some friendly competition where minimized footprints were concerned. In 2008, Nye was winning: Solar panels and various home upgrades meant his house put more energy back into his local power grid than it took out. Then, in late 2015, Begley moved. It’s difficult to determine who ultimately won their green-off contest, but when he moved, Begley had nine kilowatts of solar panels on his roof to Nye’s four, because, as Nye told National Geographic , “a different neighbor’s house blocked the sun at certain times of the day. I’ve thought about cutting that part of her house down,” he said, laughing, "but it probably wouldn’t be the most neighborly thing."

14. HIS COMFORT FOOD IS ONE SLICE OF BACON.

Last but not least, you might be wondering what kind of snack the famous science fan, who the Seattle Times once described as always “[spinning] like a dynamo, power source unseen,” enjoys when he finally unwinds. The answer, he told The New York Times , is a “single slice of organically raised bacon, from the froufrou hippie grocery down the street. Fry that with a few leaves of my homegrown chard. That’s living. You get the bitter with the fat and the salt.”

All photos courtesy of Getty Images unless otherwise noted.

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Bill Nye’s VR Science Kit Enhances Classic Experiments with Virtual Reality

The science kit offers all the joy of Bill Nye with extra interactivity!

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Science rules! Little scientists will learn this (and will be chanting the name of their new favorite science guy) by the time they reach the end of the experiment booklet in Bill Nye’s VR Science Kit.

Bill Nye is a science communicator who hosted the educational ‘90s show Bill Nye the Science Guy . Parents who are nostalgic for the home experiments offered in that show can now pass on those fond memories with the Bill Nye VR Science Kit from Abacus Brands , a company known for offering STEM toys that incorporate virtual reality (VR). 

The Bill Nye kit, which is designed for kids ages 8 and up, comes with a smartphone-compatible VR headset, an experiment booklet, and a whole bunch of supplies to run experiments with. The booklet is satisfyingly large and features 30 experiments in total, plenty to keep any up-and-coming scientist occupied. 

The experiments are a series of well-known projects that explain scientific concepts. There’s everything from a baking soda volcano that teaches kids about chemical reactions to a soapy water bucket that demonstrates the concept of surface tension. If a kid has a fun science teacher or has been to an educational day camp, there’s a chance they’ve seen some of these experiments before.

Though some of these projects are well-known, this VR kit does bring a lot of new content to the table, most notably the addition of Bill Nye. But some setup is needed to get things started. First, there is a free companion app — Bill Nye’s VR Science Kit — that kids need to interact with the VR elements. There is also an optional app that parents can use to track kids’ progress going through the kit, called the  Abacus HQ Parent Portal app. That one isn’t necessary to get started with the VR kit but is handy if you want email updates on your young scientist’s experiments. The app associated with this specific kit is decently large, so it’s a good idea to download it ahead of time so kids can get to experimenting right away.

Speaking of preparing ahead of time, some of the experiments require a little bit of prep, too. The kit itself includes supplies for many of the experiments, but you are expected to supplement that with some household supplies. For example, the gooey slime experiment requires a beaker, some school glue, some food coloring, a spoon, and baking soda, all of which come in the kit. But it also requires some saline solution, which isn’t included. A quick flip through the book and a grocery run with a list in hand might be a good idea if kids want to be able to experiment uninterrupted. 

Once supplies are ready to go, kids can get experimenting. A heads up to any housekeeping parents: A number of these experiments are messy, so be ready for some cleanup (hopefully with some young scientist assistance!).

To utilize the VR elements, kids will need a smartphone with a camera — Android 7.0 or greater or iOS 9.0 or greater — and the companion app. Using that smartphone, they can scan the pages of the experiment booklet to open a whole new world of interactivity. A little, bobble-headed cartoon Bill Nye will be the first to greet them on-screen and explain the experiment. The instructions also include short videos that kids can watch by holding the camera to the corresponding picture in the booklet. 

The VR headset is a fun addition. Throughout the experiment, different portions incorporate things like footage of actual volcanoes for the baking soda volcano, with Nye’s voice in the background explaining how eruptions function. Kids can also find themselves in a lab space with Nye on video going through concepts such as static electricity. The headset accounts for head movement so kids can look around the full scene as they learn.

Kids can wear the headset throughout the whole experiment, though I tended to just leave the strap part off, clip my phone in quickly, and hold the hedset up to my face like temporary goggles when I got to a VR portion, just for convenience. 

If a kid has a tendency to get nauseous with these kinds of moving screens, you can also set the app to augmented reality (AR) mode instead, so they can watch the videos on the phone rather than putting the whole thing up to their face.

The content and background of the experiments themselves is really quite solid. It’s an excellent foundation for a number of scientific concepts, all brought together in a fun, engaging package. And Bill Nye is refreshingly comfortable saying words like “electron” and “viscosity” and explaining what those mean instead of completely oversimplifying things. Curious and scientific kids will appreciate this willingness to go in-depth, in a way that’s still understandable to a growing mind. Nye doesn’t talk down to kids — he excitedly and genuinely explains what each experiment is. 

Related: Explore Tiny Worlds with the Magic Adventures Microscope

Even without the VR components, the booklet is a strong collection of fun facts, science concepts, and experiments that kids can have a bunch of fun running. This kit doesn’t reinvent the wheel with its relatively well-known experiments, but it really elevates them with Bill Nye’s voice and supplemental video and VR content. Future scientists will want to run experiments over and over with this one (and might even want to watch some Bill Nye the Science Guy after)!

About the author

Bug Hartsock

Bug is a News Writer for The Toy Insider, The Pop Insider, and The Toy Book. They are also a Master’s student in biology, currently studying sleep in arthropods. When they aren’t writing or working with small critters, they spend their time reading sci-fi novels, playing tabletop RPGs, or throwing creative projects at the wall. Bug had a mullet once, and is not against having one again. Reach out or find more from them at their website.

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“A timely and eco-conscious children’s science book. Combine the effervescent and enduring appeal of Bill Nye with solid science and the result is a winner.” School Library Journal (Starred Review)

An instant New York Times bestseller, Bill Nye’s Great Big World of Science is the must-have, everything-you-need-to-know science book from every kid’s favorite science educator.

Science educator, TV host, and New York Times–bestselling author Bill Nye is on a mission to help kids understand and appreciate the science that makes our world work. Featuring a range of subjects—physics, chemistry, geology, biology, astronomy, global warming, and more—this profusely illustrated book covers the basic principles of each science, key discoveries, recent revolutionary advances, and the problems that science still needs to solve for our Earth.

Nye and coauthor Gregory Mone present the most difficult theories and facts in an easy-to-comprehend, humorous way. They interviewed numerous specialists from around the world, in each of the fields discussed, whose insights are included throughout. Also included are experiments kids can do themselves to bring science to life!