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This selection from National Geographic Kids inspires and allows kids to explore the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math — and have fun doing it!

STEM Books for Kids

Brain Games: Experiments (ages 8-12) – Based on the hit National Geographic TV show Brain Games!

Discover what makes your mind tick. Explore the secrets behind smell, taste, touch, and vision. Find out how to trick your friends into thinking they taste something they don’t. Then turn the tables as you try to outsmart your own brain. Put your own mental powers to the test with tricky quizzes, optical illusions, and more. Learn about phantom sensations as you make your brain think your nose is six feet long! Each kid-friendly experiment is paired with step-by-step instructions, vibrant photography, and intriguing explanations of neuroscience at work. Mind-blowing topics include:

- Senses: Test your powers of sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing.
- Brain and Body: Explore how your mind knows where your body is, how to play brain games with your friends, and the secrets behind superhero superpose.
- Thinking: Challenge your memory, strength of the hive mind, puzzle power, mind-reading abilities, and concentration.
- Reactions: Put your reflexes to work to catch, dodge, check to snap judgments, and more.

Just Joking Science (ages 8-12)

Who says science can’t be silly? Just Joking Science features 300 science-themed jokes that are scientifically proven to leave kids laughing. Jokes about all kinds of science stuff―kooky chemistry, funny physics, dinosaurs, space, and more―are combined with fast STEM-centric facts and 10 stories of real-life scientific experiments that are almost too wild to believe. Sized just right for Christmas stockings, backpacks, and back seat/holiday travel boredom-busting.

Can’t Get Enough Space Stuff (ages 7-10)

With more than 200 extraordinary illustrations and photographs, detailed diagrams and infographics, and a winning combination of comprehensive articles deep diving into outer space research, fast facts, and expert first-hand accounts, Can’t Get Enough Space Stuff is the ultimate book for space enthusiasts. This book covers it all — get the scoop on space food, space junk, space volcanoes, and NASA’s future plans for reaching Mars and Europa. Learn about how scientists look for life on other planets, cutting-edge space technology, mind-blowing black holes, and the International Space Station. Hands-on activities you can try at home are a terrific resource for STEM studies and science fair projects.

Break Down: Explosions, Implosions, Crashes, Crunches, Cracks, and More … a How Things Work Look at How Things Break (ages 8-12)

This book explores how things break down, crack, explode, crumple, and shatter. This fun, unique take on a how-things-work book explores the world through the lens of what it takes for things not to work. In these vibrantly illustrated pages, you’ll peer through the smoke and rubble of controlled demolitions to discover the properties of building materials. Then get a glimpse of the inner workings of a cracked cell phone screen, peek carefully at mega-avalanches and sinkholes, and hold on tight as wrecking balls swing, and car crushers crunch metal. Buckle up with crash-test dummies and travel back in time to explore the world’s most famous failures (looking at you, Leaning Tower of Pisa). Featuring hands-on activities that walk kids through their own experiments in destruction Break Down! will change the way you look at the world.

Izzy Newtown and the S.M.A.R.T Squad Series (ages 8-12) by Valerie Tripp

Join Izzy Newton and her five brainy buddies in this fun three-book FICTION series, where science and tech reign supreme!

“Written by girl-power expert Valerie Tripp—the author behind some of your favorite American Girl stories—the Izzy Newton and the S.M.A.R.T. Squad series features five brainy friends inspired by iconic scientists—Izzy Newton, Allie Einstein, Charlie Darwin, Marie Curie, and Gina Carver—as they go through the wild time that is middle school, with stories on friendship, growing up, and of course, solving mishaps with science and the scientific method. … It’s one thing to have children’s books about scientists or podcasts or stories about strong women in STEM, but it’s another world entirely when your children get to feel represented by the characters they’re reading about. The characters in the Izzy Newton and the S.M.A.R.T. Squad series are diverse, smart, and sure of themselves the way all middle school girls are—through their dreams and newly acquired skills they’re still getting used to.” ― Romper.

It’s difficult to jump from elementary to middle school with 900 students. but for the S.M.A.R.T. (Solving Mysteries And Revealing Truths) Squad, it’s all about relying on the value of friendship and the power of science to help them think their way through all kinds of sticky situations. And when middle-school mishaps happen, Izzy and her five friends (the S.M.A.R.T. Squad!) use their collective skills and the power of STEM to bring order to their school.

Check out all three titles in the series:

- Book 1: Izzy Newtown and the S.M.A.R.T. Squad: Absolute Hero
- Book 2: Izzy Newtown and the S.M.A.R.T. Squad: Newton’s Flaw
- JUST RELEASED! Book 3: Izzy Newtown and the S.M.A.R.T. Squad: The Law of Cavities

Meet the characters, check out the Readers and Educators Guides, and read the first chapter of Book 1 at Nat Geo Kids Smart Squad.

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National Geographic Kids GIVEAWAY:CLOSED

One winner will receive a copy of Brain Games: Experiments, Just Joking Science, Can’t Get Enough Space Stuff, Break Down, Izzy Newtown, and the S.M.A.R.T Squad Series ($96). Open to U.S. residents of the 48 contiguous United States. You must be 18 years old to enter to win. This giveaway ends at 11:59 PM EST on 11.30.22. See below for terms and conditions.

Entry -Form

All entries will be verified—only one entrant per mailing address per giveaway. Any person who has won a prize (or whose household has won a prize) in any promotion sponsored by the Sponsor in the past thirty (30) days before this contest start date is not eligible to win a prize in this contest. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you will not be eligible to win it again. Entrants who have created social accounts purely to enter Competitions or Sweepstakes will not be eligible to win. All social accounts used must be public.

The winner will be chosen randomly through Sweep Widget and contacted via email. A reply to the winning email is required within 48 hours before a new winner is chosen. Void where prohibited by law. One person entering per household, please. The Review Wire and other participating bloggers are not responsible for the prize shipment.