Thomas Edison for kids: his life and ideas : 21 activities

Note to readers

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Time line

1: Off To A Quick Start: Thomas Alva Edison's Boyhood

Make the steam-powered boat

Make an electrically charged puppet dance

2: Time To Get Moving: Al Hits The Rails

Test solutions in your own chemistry lab

Make an electric telegraph machine

3: Wandering And Working: On The Way To Invention

Switch on an electric current to move a magnetic field

4: Getting Down To Business: Inventing Becomes A Career

Make copies with a stencil

Invent something!

Make music with a needle

5: Lights On!: Developing An Electric Lighting System

Build an electrical circuit to test materials: insulator or conductor?

6: New Life: Home, Family, And Moving Pictures

Parcheesi

Make a thaumatrope

Make a flip book

Make a zoetrope

7: Always Thinking: Edison Tries New Fields

Make a magnetic separator

Make and electromagnet

Plaster of Paris hand cast

8: Successes And Setbacks: A Long Career As An Inventor

Make your own battery tester

Take Edison's test

9: Plants, Friendship, And Rubber: Edison's Final Years

Test a dandelion for latex

Heat test a rubber band

Homemade funny putty

Resources

Thomas Edison's major inventions

Supply sources

Places to visit

Web sites to explore

Bibliography

Index.