Science · For younger children · 1880

The Fairy-Land of Science

Arabella Buckley's ten lectures for children on sunbeams, the air, water and ice, sound, a primrose, a piece of coal, and bees and flowers, where the invisible forces of nature are the real "fairies". 29 short guides for children about 7 to 10, read aloud by a parent, cover the whole book, each with one simple thing to try, a drawing, and the right page of the book beside it. A gentle start before Agnes Giberne's books on the stars and the rocks.

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Turn this on to see every lesson as a simple checklist: what to get out, what to do and what to say, one line at a time.

How to use it

  • A little at a time. Each guide is one session of 20 to 30 minutes. Read aloud the short passages the guide points to and tell the rest in your own words. Two or three sessions a week covers the book in about three months.
  • One thing to try. Every guide has one simple demonstration with things from the kitchen or garden: a glass of water making a rainbow, a cup pushed under water, a saucer drying in the sun, a twanging ruler, a flower taken apart.
  • Safety first. Never look at the Sun. Steam, flames and hot water are for the adult only. Buckley's dangerous experiments (potassium, phosphorus, strong acid, coal gas) are marked Watch only: read what happened and find a video of a teacher doing it. Watch bees from a few steps away.
  • Tell it back, then draw it. After the reading, your child tells back what they heard in their own words. A science notebook of drawings, one for every session, makes a lovely record of the year.
  • What we know now. The book is from 1879. Most of it holds up, but a few ideas (the "ether", how bees buzz, the speed of sound) have changed. Short notes give the modern picture.
  • Her fairies are forces. Buckley calls heat, gravity and cohesion "fairies" to help children picture them, and says plainly they are real forces. She also speaks of God as Creator in places; read these as your family wishes.

Part 1 Lecture I: The fairy-land of science

How to enter it: nature's invisible forces are the true fairies, and imagination and open eyes are the way in. Lessons 1–3.

  1. 1Fairy tales that are trueLecture I, part 1✓
  2. 2The fairies in a rain showerLecture I, part 2✓
  3. 3Solids, liquids, gases, and how to love natureLecture I, part 3✓

Part 2 Lecture II: Sunbeams and the work they do

Day and night, the size of the Sun, light as tiny waves, the colors in sunlight, and the light and warmth that sunbeams bring. Lessons 4–6.

  1. 4Morning light and the giant SunLecture II, part 1✓
  2. 5Sunbeams are waves, and a rainbow on the wallLecture II, part 2✓
  3. 6How we see colors, and the work of sunbeamsLecture II, part 3✓

Part 3 Lecture III: The aerial ocean in which we live

The air we live in: what it is made of, why it stays, how it presses on everything, and what makes the wind. Lessons 7–9.

  1. 7We live at the bottom of an ocean of airLecture III, part 1✓
  2. 8Air is springy, and it presses on everythingLecture III, part 2✓
  3. 9Air pushes up, weighing the air, and the windLecture III, part 3✓

Part 4 Lecture IV: A drop of water on its travels

Water rising invisibly into the sky, clouds, rain, dew, crystals, snow, ice, glaciers and the salty sea. Lessons 10–12.

  1. 10A drop of water goes up into the skyLecture IV, part 1✓
  2. 11Dew, frost, and growing crystalsLecture IV, part 2✓
  3. 12Snowflakes, ice, glaciers, and the salty seaLecture IV, part 3✓

Part 5 Lecture V: The two great sculptors, water and ice

How rain, rivers, waves, frost and glaciers carve the land and lay it down again somewhere else. Lessons 13–15.

  1. 13Water the sculptor: rain and rivers carve the landLecture V, part 1✓
  2. 14Ravines, waterfalls, canyons and deltasLecture V, part 2✓
  3. 15Caves, cliffs, frost and glaciersLecture V, part 3✓

Part 6 Lecture VI: The voices of nature and how we hear them

What sound is, how it travels, echoes, the ear, notes and noises, and the sounds of brooks, thunder and birds. Lessons 16–18.

  1. 16Listening, and how sound travelsLecture VI, part 1✓
  2. 17Sound waves, echoes, and the earLecture VI, part 2✓
  3. 18Notes, noises, and the voices of natureLecture VI, part 3✓

Part 7 Lecture VII: The life of a primrose

A seed, plant cells, how a plant makes its own food, and the parts of a flower. Lessons 19–21.

  1. 19Inside a seed, and plants made of cellsLecture VII, part 1✓
  2. 20How a plant makes its own foodLecture VII, part 2✓
  3. 21Taking a flower apartLecture VII, part 3✓

Part 8 Lecture VIII: The history of a piece of coal

The giant plants of the coal forests, how a swamp becomes coal, and what coal gives us. Lessons 22–24.

  1. 22A piece of coal, and a trip down a coal mineLecture VIII, part 1✓
  2. 23Giant forests of long ago, and a swamp that makes peatLecture VIII, part 2✓
  3. 24What coal gives us, and the plants that did their workLecture VIII, part 3✓

Part 9 Lecture IX: Bees in the hive

Workers, drones and the queen, wax and six-sided cells, honey and pollen, baby bees and swarms. Lessons 25–26.

  1. 25A city of bees, and why their cells have six sidesLecture IX, part 1✓
  2. 26Honey, baby bees, queens and swarmsLecture IX, part 2✓

Part 10 Lecture X: Bees and flowers

How flowers' colors, scents and shapes bring insects to carry their pollen, and the end of the journey. Lessons 27–29.

  1. 27Why flowers are bright and sweetLecture X, part 1✓
  2. 28Flowers with clever tricksLecture X, part 2✓
  3. 29Violets, pea flowers, orchids, and the end of the journeyLecture X, part 3✓

The book itself

The Fairy-Land of Science

1880 (first published 1879) · About ages 9 to 13

Arabella Buckley's ten lectures for children on sunbeams, the air, water and ice, sound, a primrose, a piece of coal and bees, showing the forces of nature as the real “fairies” at work in the everyday world.

🧑‍🏫 Teaching guides ⬇ Download PDF (15.4 MB) Internet Archive ↗

Scanned from a University of California Libraries copy.

Each guide covers part of one of Buckley's ten lectures, in the book's order, shown beside the title (for example "Lecture III, part 1"). The guides are written for this site; the book is in the public domain.

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