When I was a kid, there was no such thing as “do it yourself” biology for home. Sure, you could do observational stuff, like go out in the woods with a butterfly net and a magnifi\ying glass, or plant some seeds, or look at stuff under the microscope, but it was hard to do real experiments in biology.
My favourite trio of childhood science books (recently reissued) were “Between Play and Physics”, “Between Play and Chemistry” and “Between Play and Mathematics” – see, no biology there!
But the world of science has changed since then and there is much more stuff that one can do at home that is real experimental biology – especially molecular biology.
These days, you can run a gel in an electrophoresis setup built out of Legos or extract your own stem cells from a placenta (if you can get hold of one), or a whole bunch of other stuff. Even more sophisticated ready-made stuff, e.g., science kits, are not that expensive any more.
Perhaps someone should write “Between Play and Biology” one of these days.

]]>