A few months into the pandemic, our family discovered Emily’s Wonder Lab, a science-focused Netflix series starring Emily Calandrelli, an MIT graduate that worked for NASA. For my (at the time) 3-year-old son, Emily’s Wonder Lab was both an exciting show to watch but also an informative piece of programming that taught him a lot of cool scientific concepts. His love of Emily’s Wonder Lab even fostered an increased interest in science beyond the show.
Unfortunately, while Emily’s Wonder Lab Season 1 is still available on Netflix, there are no plans for a second season as of this writing. But for Calandrelli and her fans, the journey of Emily’s Wonder Lab continues in book form.
With Stay Curious and Keep Exploring, Calandrelli is capturing the same spirit of Emily’s Wonder Lab with both fun experiments for families to do and key science facts to ensure kids are still learning. Calandrelli isn’t deviating from the formula that worked for Wonder Lab either; she isn’t talking down to the kids when explaining the science behind each experiment.
Alongside being a genuinely entertaining show with experiments that are as eye-catching as they are educational, Calandrelli has a personality that is well-suited for working with kids. Dating back to 2014 with Fox’s Xploration Outer Space moving forward to guest appearances with Bill Nye and now Emily’s Wonder Lab, Calandrelli has shown she has a genuine knack for bringing science to the mainstream. Stay Curious and Keep Exploring is a new facet of that but it retains the same spirit.
The book itself includes 50 different experiments, each designed to teach a unique scientific concept. The experiments feature an introduction by Calandrelli not unlike what you would see during the Netflix series, a rundown of materials, step-by-step instructions for completing the experiment, and then a tag that explains the science behind the reaction or event that is seen.
As Calandrelli explained to me, she wanted experiments that hit three key notes:
Having spent some time with Stay Curious and Keep Exploring it’s easy to see that the spirit of Emily’s Wonder Lab is in the book. Calandrelli has found experiments that utilize materials that can be found easily around the home, and the results are as eye-popping as those seen on the TV screen. More importantly, the book affords families the opportunity to go at their own pace, which isn’t as easy to do while watching a show.
Stay Curious and Keep Exploring might have still come to life at one point or another in Calandrelli’s career, but the response to Emily’s Wonder Lab is what convinced her to work on the book. Even before we knew the fate of the show, the first spark of the book began.
It may be disappointing that Emily’s Wonder Lab has not continued beyond the one season, but Stay Curious and Keep Exploring is the perfect follow-up. The experiments are engaging, the format is clear and concise, the art work (courtesy of Cachete Jack) is playful, and Calandrelli never shies away from doing what she does best: explaining science to kids.
Stay Curious and Keep Exploring is available September 27, 2022.
