1. On Food and Cooking, by Harold McGee. A classic connecting science and cooking, but in that order. Other books in the sub-genre of Science of Cooking often read more like cookbooks. Fun ones, yes, but cookbooks. McGee's is a science book.
2. Scientific playthings, especially interesting materials. Some of my favorites are magic sand, insta-snow, and and Sculpey, which is bakeable polymer clay. I've also seen some very un-dense baked clay, but I don't know what kind it is. It's almost foamy. The piece I saw was sculpted into a beautiful brain and spinal cord, and the entire life-sized brain was one solid piece. I haven't had much luck baking larger pieces of Sculpey.
3. Do it at home: massive quantities of baking soda and vinegar are inexpensive and no further away than the grocery store. Boil a little red cabbage in a small amount of water to produce a pH indicator solution that you can use to test any of a number of household items: soda, vinegar, baking soda solution, clear soap solutions, etc.. Some groceries also sell dry ice, which is fun to play with provided you are careful. Dry ice in a sink of warm water with soap bubbles is super entertaining. It is possible, I have heard, to remove the superabsorbent polymer from a diaper. If you cut open the liner and get the stuff separated out I bet it could be fun to mess around with.
4. Kits that allow the average kitchen to feel more laboratory-like. New England Cheese Making Supply has intro kits that allow you to produce a nice Mozarella in less than an hour. Craft stores sell kits for soap-making. Edmund Scientifics sells root beer and hot sauce kits. If you have a local brew-supply store you can find not only beer-making kits, brewing supplies that can be used regularly if you think you'll get into that, and also soda-making supplies that often allow you to choose which kind of soda you want to make. Typical options include cola, creme soda, and sarsaparilla.
'tis the season.
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