DIY Lake Water is a free hands on science app for kids from UC Berkeley’s The Lawrence Hall of Science. We reviewed their DIY Sun app, which is also free. This new app DIY Lake Science is another fun science app for kids who are interested in natural science. Funded by NSF, it allows families and educators to investigate and learn about lakes and other freshwater ecosystems at home, at school, or anywhere you go. For those who don’t have mobile devices, you can access the same content on their website.
When kids open the app, they will see 3 options: Under the Lake, Activities, and Videos.
Under the Lake
It is a short introduction of lakes and the groundwater system. Kids can use the simple simulation to see the changes on water temperature when they change the depth of the lake and the temperature. After play with the simulator, kids can move on to read about Lake Stratification, Lake Mixing, Ice Formation, Climate formation, and some other related topics.
Activities
It is the section I like the most. There are 10 science activities in total, with 5 indoor and 5 outdoor activities. They are all hands on experiments. Each activity has detailed information on materials you need and step-by-step instructions on how to do the experiment, and scientific explanation of why those phenomena happen.
For example, one of the indoor experiments is Water Underground. It has a list of supplies you will need, and the procedure to set up a underground water system. Kids then can create a well, and compare the “polluted” water to real water.
I like the science experiments. The instruction tells you the time you need to prepare and how much time you need to run the whole experiment.
Videos
This is a the place for kids to watch all the videos included in the app. So far, I can see 6 Lake Science, 8 Lakes and People, and Lakes of the World.
Like other apps designed by The Lawrence hall of Science, this DIY Lake Science app is a great STEM app for kids, especially kids who are interested in STEM and natural science.
DIY Lake Science is available on iPhone, iPod and iPad. It is Free. If you prefer using computer, you can access the content on DIY Lake Science website.
If you would like to check it out or purchase it, please use the App Store link provided below. The cost is the same to you, but iGameMom gets a small percentage. Thanks for your support! Note: The link works for all countries.
Looking for more hands on natural science activity ideas for kids? You will like 100+ Natural Science Activities for Kids
