Make like a miniature Martin Scorsese and create your own (stop-action) movie. Best part? The actors are all Lego® people, who work for free. You’ll get (36) assorted Lego® pieces, including mix-and-match characters and props. Includes a 78-page guide with advice for making credits, sound effects, lighting, camera techniques, set design, backdrops, storyboards and a bunch more. If Hitchcock had had this kit, Janet Leigh might have survived the shower scene. For ages 8+.

Take the (32) pieces in this motorized robot kit and you can make a 6-legged cricket, a gear-driven trailer, a two-legged rolling beastie or a grandfather. And all of them are as cute as robot buttons, especially the bobble-headed grampa. From OWI, the robot people. Sizes vary, but he’ll stand 10-1/2” tall. You add (1) “AA” battery for power. Solderless, but bring a screwdriver and side cutters.

Surprise your parents with a little science at home. “Science Surprises” is a 192-page paperback in its third edition with over 100 experiments that can be done using common household goodies. OK, a couple of things might require a trip to the hardware store, but still.  The science ranges from the Bernoulli principle and Stroop effect to making your own perfume and cold cream. (And remember what Shaw said: “Science never solves a problem without creating ten more,” so that makes a thousand experiments.)

Just like the original Stomp® Rocket but slightly smaller for slightly smaller feet, the Stomp® Rocket Jr. Glow also, you guessed it, glows in the dark. Includes (4) 8-3/4" tall foam rockets, launch tripod, 3-foot hose and the launching pad on which you or your young 'uns stomp to launch it up to 100 feet. Runs on air alone (no more waiting for your liquid hydrogen order from NASA) so it's safe. For ages 3 and up, depending upon shoe size.

No need to limit the numbers you paint by. These kits all include 8” x 6” canvases, (6) acrylic paint pots, a #2 brush, color key and guide, plus tips for blending colors--a major improvement in the paint-by-numbers game. Packaging is also an easel, and becomes a self-adhesive hanger, which gives you a big leg up on the original artists. You pick: Van Gogh’s Starry Night, Sunflowers or Monet’s The Japanese Footbridge.

Cleverly made, and mighty heuristic, too. For someone entranced by hydraulics, or for a whole classroom of students, there's the Pathfinders 4-In-1 teaching kit, with 4 different hydraulic-system kits that use unfinished wood, transparent tubing, and plastic syringes, which power the movement. The mini models include an excavator, scissors lift, cherry picker, and platform lifter. Bases are approx 4" x 7" and finished heights vary, thanks to those syringes! Very clever teaching tools for ages 8 and up.

And this Cool Science experiment kit is at least cool and a half. Has (8) experiments in its 24-page booklet, including (3) with polymer crystals, (3) using friction and (5) dealing with density and pressure. Comes with a bag of multicolored polymer beads, (3) balloons, (4) hunks of modeling clay, a straw, a pipet, a glass test tube and stopper, 3-way tubing connector, (20) rubber bands, a marble and a small hex-nut. You add some common household items. Ages 8+.

From Metal Earth®, the people who make shiny metal 3D models, now comes the Doctor Who metal models. All punch-outs with no glue or soldering required. You pick: the Golden Dalek, at 2-1/4” x 3” x 1-1/4”; or the Blue Tardis model at 1-5/8” square x 3-1/4” tall. And if you don’t know what a Dalek or Tardis  is, you shouldn’t even be reading this. These are challenging models, so rated for all ages over 14.

Sunprints (or cyanotypes, or photograms) are everyone's favorite photo-sensitivity experiment, from third-graders to graphic artists and fine artists. You pick: The Sunprinters are a dozen 3-15/16" square sheets of photosensitive paper, an acrylic backing sheet and instructions. The large Sunprint Kit has (15) sheets of 12" x 7-3/4" photosensitive paper plus a clear acrylic sheet of the same size. Great for classroom demonstrations, and can be used to make prints from photo negatives as well as interesting effects from opaque or translucent objects. All you add is sunshine and water.

"WE DARE YOU!" by Vicki Cobb is a 322-page book for children, filled with over (300) scientific challenges and experiments that can be done with ordinary household stuff. A savvy adult could introduce kids to science by betting them their allowance money on the afore-mentioned challenges, including making square eggs without using a square chicken, writing with potatoes, blowing frozen soap bubbles, and a whole bunch more.

before we dip our tongues into it. You might want to, too. Try Watersafe® Well-Water Test Kit, a robust 10 parameter, single-use kit made for testing city water or well-water. Contains tests that will detect lead, coliform bacteria, pesticides, nitrates, iron, nitrites, pH, chlorine, copper and hardness. Includes an instruction manual and EPA drinking water standards. Easy to use, with your water quality results on the spot.

When ornithopters roamed the earth…oops, no, it just sounds like a dinosaur. The ornithopter was one of Leonardo's masterful designs, although this one just led to a bunch of guys on winged bicycles plummeting to the earth in the 19th century. Still extremely cool, however, in this kit version. Pre-cut, unpainted wooden pieces assemble with pegs to make a crank-operated moving model with a 24" wingspan, complete with a human figure, which our model-guru calls a 15th C. crash-test dummy. Ages 9+.

Home robotics, bubeleh. Build a working hydraulic arm with this excellent 66-piece kit from Pathfinders' Simple Machine series. Structure is die-cut plywood and the kit includes tubing, (3) syringes and glue. You'll need a ruler and scissors. The finished arm will be approx 13-1/2" tall and will reach out over 16" and rotate 90° on an 8-5/8' x 6-7/8" base. Comes with a 12-page manual and uses water. Beautiful, too. For ages 8+.

Nice little 8-LED running light kit from Velleman® has program and speed controls. You control which lights go on and off, and how fast they "run" in sequence. It's the basic concept used in those vintage blinking signs that entice you into car dealerships, amusement parks and cocktail lounges. You get the PC board and all the parts except the 9V battery you need to let the little lights shine. Ages 10+, as some soldering is required.

Electronic fun with just a hint of soldering from Madlab. You pick: the lie detector kit, with a PC board and components, or the LED logic game with diodes and transistors that pit your skill against moving a peg along (36) pads. You should be able to assemble either kit in under an hour with a little light soldering. You add a 9V battery to both. For ages 10 and up. Soldering iron not included. But we have one, and it’s item #88242 for $6.95.

Incendiary rocket fuel? We don't need no stinkin' incendiary rocket fuel. We got the Mighty Seltzer Rocket! The seltzer rocket, made of simple plastic parts. (No, don't lean over it!. That's not a foam nose cone, you know!) The 4-1/4" x 1-1/4" dia seltzer rocket that holds water and (1) dissolving seltzer tablet. The rocket that has shot almost 30 feet in the air for us. It comes with (4) antacid tablets, just like those you can buy at the drug store -- and it's basic science at its best!

Of course you can buy science by the jar. Mason Jar Science is a 135-page hardcover with “40 Slimy, Squishy, Super-Cool Experiments” detailed inside. Includes fun with crystals, bubbles, slimes, liquids and gases, all made possible using common household items (assuming your household is common) plus, of course, the eponymous Mason jar.

The Book of Terrifyingly Awesome Technology is crying out for a spot on your kid’s bookshelf. It’s a hardbound book with (227) pages of info-taining stories and (27) experiments that blur the lines between science fiction and modern technology, but in a good way. Experiments will require the always-popular “common household items” and don't blame us if you wake up to a space elevator in your backyard.