Here’s a handful of ideas for holiday gifts you can share with your kids. Of course, I am always partial to a fresh basket of homebrew multi-stage rocket engines, but I realize that this may not be the bets way to keep your house in one piece. So, here are a few top picks from my list:

• Microscope Invest in a more expensive one now so your kid can take it to high school and college.  When I teach microscope classes to K-12 kids, they all use the same kind. (If you’ve never used one, then pick up a How To book also.)
• Telescope If I could, I would gather up all the cheap telescopes that people try to sell to kids and have a major bonfire in the middle of the street.  Honestly, anything under $200 not from Orion, Meade, or Celestron (or a similar company) is just plain garbage.  If you got yours at a department store, toy store, or Wal-Mart, just toss it now and avoid the agony of watching your child’s excitement turn to frustration. I meet more students in college that had this happen in their childhood, and it forever turned them off to astronomy and/or science.  If you really want to get a good starter scope, then invest in a nicer one that will serve your kid’s dreams for a long time.  If you can’t afford it, get them a pair of good binoculars (see below).
• Binoculars Not just for bird watching and playing spy games, these are the best around for astronomy. You can actually see the moons around Jupiter and Saturn with these! I actually own a pair of these from Orion myself – and they are one of my favorite things to take on any trip. (I also take along this summertime Star Atlas for the northern hemisphere.)
• Chemistry Set While you can get the $350 chemistry sets online (the Chem 3000 from Thames and Cosmos is our all-time favorite, and we were so excited about this product that we created a 4-hour DVD to go along with it on how to get the most out of the program)… but suppose it’s not in your budget.  It’s a massive program, after all – about 400 science experiments, most of which are at the high school level.  Sooo…. here’s a dirt-cheap idea for your budding scientist:  join the eScience online program just for January (we have a deal going right now where you get the first month for only $1) and order the chemicals and equipment online (expect to spend around $100) and your child will have a complete chemistry unit under their belt with TONS of experiments to do! There’s a shopping list already up for Unit 9 – it’s the cheapest and best way to do real schemistry under the watchful guidence of a professional (ahem).
• Instant (Real) Snow I know this isn’t something you can wrap up and stick under the tree, but if you live somewhere that it’s COLD and hasn’t snowed yet, you can definately help nature along. Simply shoot a spray of cold (not heated from your house) water up at an angle (not straight up), and if it’s been cold for the past few hours, you should have a sprinkling of snowflakes right before your eyes.

Okay – hopefully you’ve found something educational to fit in your budget.  At the very least, a few wheels are starting to turn and who knows what can happen over this next year?  Happy Experimenting!

Okay, it’s that time again! We’re looking to you to help us out in our
seasonal donations! Here’s what’s up: every winter, we regularly donate
our science kits and programs to families in need. The trouble is, we have
difficulty finding them sometimes! While we do have a list of families, we
noticed this season (like last year) it’s a bit shorter than we like to
see. We have over $1,000 of science kits and programs to donate, so if you
know of a family in need that would truly benefit from our science
programs, drop us an email this week, letting us know their contact
information as well as their situation (why they’d be a good fit in this
category), so we can figure out the best kit to send them.

Just to give you an idea of what we look for… In the past, we’ve sent
science kits and programs to single parents of larger families, to a child
with a disability (sudden or lifelong), teachers in low-income areas (to
use in their classroom), and so forth. Think of people who couldn’t
normally afford what we offer, but would benefit the most from it. Those
are the ones we want to know about, and I know probably know someone that
would be a perfect fit. Thank you for this opportunity to serve something
greater than ourselves.

Simply contact us by email to let us know. Thank you for your help – and for the privilege of serving as your guide and coach along your science adventure.

Yours in Science,
Aurora