I was talking with a home-school mom at soccer practice, yesterday. She mentioned needing to order a science kit. Unless I can find a kit on Good Will online or eBay, I don’t buy kits. Let me share several science resources. First is Home Science Tools. They sell individual pieces of equipment, such as a glass thermometer. This is where I order dissection specimens for Biology. Amazon, Walmart, eBay are good sources for chemicals, pH paper, and lab equipment.
Whenever possible, look for household chemicals to use for experiments. Okay, they aren’t as pure as reagents sold from chemical supply companies, such as Flinn Scientific. Most of the time these chemicals work well enough for lab. Here is a list of common household chemicals with their formulas and scientific names. Below is an example, Driveway Heat, calcium chloride, CaCl2. I use baking soda and CaCl2 with phenol red (pool indicator solution) for Reaction in a Bag.
Dollar Tree, the grocery store, and Walmart are excellent sources for science equipment: funnels, plastic, paint palettes (for chemical reactions), Epsom salts, washing soda, borax, and baking soda. Be sure to shop your house! Set aside a medicine dropper, plastic plate or bowl, craft sticks (to stir), a funnel, etc in a bin dedicated to science experiments. Add balloons, index cards, binder clamps, and empty yogurt containers to use for solutions.
Five Below frequently has simple science kits. Look at the contents before you buy the kit. Some small towns still have old fashioned hardware stores and pharmacies. I have bought bluestone, Copper II Sulfate, a root killer, from local hardware stores. (Usually, I just order it from Amazon.) I’ve found water absorbing crystals from plant nurseries. If you are lucky enough to live near an Amish or Mennonite hardware or general store, they carry all sorts of materials useful for science experiments. Hope this helps!
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