What is particulate physics? If that is your first reaction then you are not alone. Our family was asking that same question when we began to review Hands-On Particulate Physics Activities and Model Construction and Templates. What we found was that it is truly the physics behind the properties and movement of particles.

These two units from Particular Concepts are designed for kindergarten through elementary students. Each unit has six activities that help students explore different principles of physics. Each activity identifies learning objectives, materials needed, and the procedure to follow. Most of the needed materials are common household items. The "particulates" used for the activities are generally sand or rice. Towers are made from Duplo/Lego blocks. Other items are created from milk cartons, trays to help contain the particulates during the activity, and water to further demonstrate the principles.

Each activity is presented with detailed procedure steps. However, it is quite evident that the procedures were written by someone with a very scientific mind. Many of the activities are accompanied by diagrams. Unfortunately, we found it difficult at times to tell which view the diagram was from. We found this especially true with the building of the valves in Activity 2 in the Model Construction and Templates unit. Fortunately, there are links to "You Tube" videos of the activities on the company's website. These videos show the successful construction and execution of each activity. Our family resorted to first watching the video for each activity and then constructing the experience ourselves. I am not confident that we would have successfully completed each of the activities if we were completely dependent on the written procedures and diagrams.

The science in these units is sound. The difficulty is that the instructions and concepts are written at such a high level that it is hard for an adult without a strong physics or engineering background to understand the concepts enough to restate and teach them to their children. These studies would be ideal for a homeschooling family that has a parent with an engineering or physics background.

Each book is sold individually for $20. The books are not numbered for order sequence. However, we did find that several of the activities in the Hands-On Particulate Physics Activities book required models from the Model Construction and Templates book. The design for these models was not replicated in the Hands-On Particulate book. So there really is a need to purchase the Construction and Templates book in order to obtain the designs needed to complete the activities in the Hands-On Particulate book.

All in all, "frustration" was the key word to our experience. Our children enjoyed building the activities and executing them after watching the You Tube demonstrations. However, I was disappointed that I couldn't understand the instruction in the books and therefore was unable to help my children comprehend the science behind the activities.

Product review by Dawn Oaks, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, January 2010