The main reason we decided to carry this book and to also create a 4th grade main lesson based on it, was because we feel that every child should have the opportunity to play and experiment with nature in a purposeful way and that not all parents know how to guide such experimentation. If you are able, out of your own knowledge, to create little toys and machines out of simple materials and to extend your child’s exploration of earth, air, water and fire, then you don’t need this book. But if you need gentle encouragement, a wealth of ideas and simple instructions, then this book is for you.

Under playing with water, we find instructions for playing with gutters, pipes and dams; and making a variety of water-wheels and little boats. In the section on playing with air, we find guidance about hot air balloons, mobiles, wind mills and cable cars; under earth we find gravity cars, ball-runs, yo-yos and domino-falls; and under fire, we find sections on candles, shadow games and rainbows.

The instructions range from the every-day simple to quite complex. Our strong suggestion is that for fourth grade one only use this book as a basis for play and free experimentation. Then, in sixth grade, this book will be extremely useful as part of your physics main lessons.

From the introduction:

Children are drawn instinctively to play with water, air, fire and earth , and given the chance will play imaginatively for hours with these elements. The purpose of this book is to show how this can be encouraged and developed. It is written more for parents and teachers than for the children themselves. The best activities are those in which the child comes into direct contact with earth, water and air, but sometimes it is a toy – preferably home-made – which brings the child into such contact.