Headlines have been, yet again, trumpeting statistics about how American children lag behind many countries in math and science skills. With high school seniors performing below the national average for 21 countries, one worries about the fate of the country that gave the world electricity, airplanes, rockets, the internet, and lasers, to name a few.

Save our scientists! Learning about math and science begins at home. You can teach your kids about rocket science by launching a bottle into the air (experiment is in here!), oceanography by removing salt from water (experiment is in here!), and hovercraft technology with a CD or DVD, a balloon, and a plastic bottle cap.

Perfect for science fair projects and keeping little people occupied during breaks from school, Workman's Mad Science Club presents 12 easy, safe experiments for kids taken from the pages of our books about science. Please find a link to each downloadable experiment below:

• Experiment 1: "Magic finger" excerpted from Pop Bottle Science by Lynn Brunelle
• Experiment 2: "Raisin water ballet" excerpted from Pop Bottle Science by Lynn Brunelle
• Experiment 3: "Chip-ship challenge" excerpted from Potato Chip Science by Allen Kurzweil
• Experiment 4: "Two-stage rocket" excerpted from Totally Irresponsible Science by Sean Connolly
• Experiment 5: "How moving!" excerpted from Totally Irresponsible Science by Sean Connolly
• Experiment 6: "The CD Hovercraft" excerpted from Totally Irresponsible Science by Sean Connolly
• Experiment 7: "Frankenstein's hand" excerpted from Totally Irresponsible Science by Sean Connolly
• Experiment 8: " Wilbur's Flying Machine experiment" excerpted from Potentially Catastrophic Science by Sean Connolly
• Experiment 9: "Barnard's Heartbeat Experiment" excerpted from Potentially Catastrophic Science by Sean Connolly
• Experiment 10: "Portable Puke" excerpted from Oh, Yikes!  by Joy Masoff
• Experiment 11: "X-periments" excerpted from Oh, Yuck! by Joy Masoff
• Experiment 12: "The Oh, Yuck! Putrid puzzle" excerpted from Oh, Yuck! by Joy Masoff

These are wonderful tools for teaching and fun.  A downloadable "OFFICIAL MAD SCIENTIST" diploma is attached as well. Who knows, you may be nurturing the next Marie Curie or Albert Einstein! That's right, it comes down to you.