50 Science Things to Make and Do is just that, a passel of experiments, all illustratively explained in two facing pages of this big 104-page flip book, and all easily done with common household items. Includes wind and water power, bugs, crystals, paper planes, rubber-band guitars, balances, gloop, optics and a ton of other fun, informative stuff. Officially classified as "cool" by several of our geekiest staffers.

Start them out right with this (profusely) hand-illustrated, 96-page book: The Story of Inventions. Includes toasters, toilets, television, computers, cars, chocolate bars, dishwashers, pianos, flying machines, bicycles and blue jeans among many others. Includes a timeline, glossary and index. No age recommendations, but we like it for pretty much anyone.

If you're devoted to explosions, and who isn't, you'll love the new expanded 2nd edition of William Gurstelle's Backyard Ballistics, now 25% longer, with 25% more ka-boomery. Still the go-to reference work for building rockets, cannons (carbide and potato), flingers, fire kites, electromagnetic pipe guns, tennis ball mortars, cleaner-bag balloons, ballistic pendula and petards. You simply can't have more fun with common household materials. The soft-cover, 210pp compendium includes detailed and illustrated instructions, parts lists and sensible ways not to be hoist on your own petard. Be careful out there.

Or at least stop mold from growing on them with Brain Quest, a curriculum-based Q&A game for kids ages 6-8 (grades 1-3). Based on national and state standards for the stuff the little buggers need to know. Includes (150) English, social studies, math and science questions on (30) cards. Better go through them yourself first, just to make sure you're smarter than an 8-year-old.

Time was, the Scouts taught tots how to tie a few knots, but that was before John Sherry (knot-instructor par excellence and a member of the International Guild of Knot Tyers) came along with Knot It! a (126)-page hardcover book with illustrated instructions for tying (100) different knots. Our faves are the Schwabisch Hitch and the Slippery Night Loop. Includes a couple of 15” hanks of practice paracord and waterproof cards with (20) knot instructions. This could be your new hobby.

Learn atomic weights while winning money from your classmates. Here’s a double deck of (104) cards plus (4) jokers all stored in a stylish box because no one wants to lose their gold, krypton or rubidium. In addition to the standard playing card values, the decks cover the periodic table of elements. Each card includes one element’s atomic number, symbol, series, melting and boiling points, period/group, uses, est. atomic weight, standard state, and the element’s name in English. Includes instructions for (2) educational games if you aren’t in the mood for canasta or two games of hearts. Up to date 6th Edition for all your fraction of a second elements.

Our grandmother used to tell us that all the time, and we might have learned something while we were out there if she’d given us The Kid’s Guide to Exploring Nature, this 120-page paperback from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Chock full of information, photos and illustrations for exploring nature in both the city (includes pigeon info!) and the countryside, and in all four seasons. They might stay out of your hair until supper.

If they saw this color map eight times a day, they'd know where every place is-and its capital. Snap this tough, 8.5" x 11" laminated sheet into a school notebook and eventually they'll have to read it. It's a very nice world map with capital cities on one side, a U.S. map with state capitals on the other. It includes other major cities plus partial Canadian and Mexican bonus areas. Current, barring a coup since we got our latest shipment.

The Woodworker’s Shop Journal is a hardcover book with (100+) pages of 1/4" grids for project planning and sketches, plus (20+) pages of quick references, charts, lumber specs, tool guides, checklists and tips. Also a good place to keep passwords and other personal information because burglars are famous for not caring about carpentry skills.

If you make cool stuff, people will pass it on to your children’s children’s children and you won’t spend eternity as just an old picture on a lost thumb drive. We suggest: Making Inventive Wooden Toys, a 184-page paperback with plans for (33) toys, many of them ballistic, out of scrap wood and easily found hardware; or Making Poor Man’s Guitars, a 176-page paperback with detailed instructions for building string instruments out of cigar boxes, frying pans, tin cans, mailboxes and washtubs, with a beer-can microphone thrown in.