ACS WonderNet Provides Fun Chemistry Online for Kids

Picture this: a cold rain is falling, coating the streets and sidewalks with a glaze of ice, while inside your home the prisoners -- your kids -- are out of school for winter vacation and about to turn the living room into a gym. You don't want to drop them in front of the TV for hours. So what can you do if the weather or sickness keeps them from playing in the fresh air?

Try WonderNet -- Your Science Place in Cyberspace. It will teach them "The Science of Soda Pop," or what they need to know about "Stuff that Floats" or "Stuff that Sticks."

WonderNet is an online program developed by the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, to teach elementary school-age children about the physical sciences through entertaining, easy-to-do activities. The activities are designed for children working under the direct supervision of their parents or teachers.

The program was started about four years ago and every other month the ACS Education and International Activities Division adds a new activity online. The latest title is "Calcium: the Hard Facts." The material is taken from the ACS books, The Best of WonderScience Volumes 1 and 2. Some other subjects adapted for the online program are "Miraculous Metals," "The Wonders of Water" and "Smell and Taste."

Through the activities, children can investigate different topics in science using inexpensive items found at home, grocery stores or in the classroom. For example, in WonderNet's "Stuff that Sticks," kids can learn how sticky foods are by using every day materials or foods like a ruler, a pencil, peanut butter, jelly, string, a spoon, pennies, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, pancake syrup, Styrofoam cups and paper plates. In "From Goo to Glue," kids and parents or teachers only need unflavored gelatin, milk, flour, plastic cups and spoons, and a cotton swap to make their own glue.

The program also includes a section online that gives adults a bit more detailed information about the science topic. In addition to the step-by-step directions for conducting experiments, WonderNet includes colorful pictures, riddles and poems to make the learning experience an entertaining one for children.

To access WonderNet, go to http://chemistry.org/wondernet. To purchase The Best of WonderScience Volumes 1 and 2 call ACS at 1-800-227-5558, Ext. 4600. WonderNet is free, "The Best of WonderScience Volume 1" is $39.95, "Volume 2" is $29.95 and the set is $49.95.

A nonprofit organization with a membership of 163,000 chemists and chemical engineers, the American Chemical Society publishes scientific journals and databases, convenes major research conferences and provides educational science policy and career programs in chemistry. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.