Are your kids interested in science?

Want to try cool experiments with your family?

To learn how to have messy scientific fun with your kids, I interview Steve Spangler for this episode of the Parenting Adventures podcast.
More About This Show
The Parenting Adventures podcast is a show from My Kids' Adventures.

It's for parents (and grandparents) who are looking for creative things to do with their kids.

The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).

In this episode, I interview Steve Spangler, one of the web's top science guys. His books include Naked Eggs and Flying Potatoes and Fire Bubbles and Exploding Toothpaste.

Just search "Steve Spangler" on YouTube and you'll find more than 1,300 videos that have a total of more than 145 million views. He's a regular guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and has three sons who test out all of Dad's experiments.

Steve shares ways to make science fun for kids by performing experiments as a family.

You'll discover the reasons why science is so important for kids.

Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below!


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Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:
How to Ignite the Science Spark in Your Children
How Steve got into science

Steve grew up around magicians. His dad was a consultant for some of the top magicians in the 1970s and 1980s, so he was surrounded by people who were doing cool science stuff in order to fool and entertain people. He soon discovered that while magicians couldn't tell the secrets behind the magic, scientists could.

Steve got his love of teaching from his dad, who ran a magic school. Steve was a classroom teacher from 1990 to 2003, and is now going on 25 years as an "informal" science teacher—for years, through network television.

Using his three YouTube channels, he's able to reach more people than he ever could in a career of teaching in a regular classroom setting.



The Spangler Effect channel was commissioned by YouTube 2½ years ago to feature slightly longer content. There are 67 episodes between 15 and 30 minutes long, which explore science in a fun, non-traditional way.

The Sick Science! channel has more than 200 short videos. These show quick demos, but don't share how the experiment works. Steve engages kids and adults in the comments by asking, "How do you think this works?"

The third is Spangler Science TV, and that's where Steve shares his weekly TV spots on NBC and on talk shows like Ellen.

Listen to the show to find out how Sick Science got its name.

Why parents should expose their kids to science

If you want your child to have a guaranteed job in the future, Steve says, anything in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math will be in high demand.

The education world has been permeated with STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), creating schools and activities to encourage and educate kids in those fields. The whole idea of STEM, according to Steve, came from a push by the U.S. government to generate more scientists.



For parents to ignite the spark of curiosity about science, Steve believes they need to do more than find videos for their kids—they need to watch them too.

Something magical happens when you sit down together with your son or daughter and show that you're just as engaged and wondering as they are, he adds. The next thing you know, you'll be running to get supplies so you can conduct experiments with your kids.

Steve explains the three things kids need for success that parents need to understand, according to Dr. Peter Benson of the Search Institute.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqzUHcW58Us
Dr. Peter Benson of the Search Institute talks about spark.

First of all, every kid needs spark. Plus they need to have three champions (such as teachers, community leaders,