My kids love science. The oldest are in elementary school, so it's mostly learning facts and very basic experiments, nothing too complex yet. It's a great field to have your children interested in, but how can you encourage them?

The simplest way to encourage your child to love science it to allow him or her to do experiments. They can be as simple as mixing a bit of water into corn starch and seeing how that mixture has unusual properties. That said, having a bit of equipment available makes things a lot more fun.

A basic child's microscope is quite affordable, for example. You can buy basic models for under $20, or spend over $100 for ones with a screen viewer or that can connect to your computer with a USB cord. Once your child has explored how amazing things are with a simple magnifying glass, a microscope is a great next step.

A small telescope is fun as well, if a little more expensive than a microscope. There are still simple ones in affordable price ranges, but don't expect great things. The moon will still look amazing through a small telescope, and you can often find a planet such as Jupiter even with a small telescope. Stellarium is a good, free software you can download to help you locate stars, planets and constellations.

A basic chemistry set is a lot of fun as well. Ones which advertise themselves as chemical free usually mean that they give you basic equipment and instructions, but you'll have to provide the chemicals yourself. They're usually very safe ones such as baking soda and vinegar.

A child who is interested in building things may enjoy a good robot kit. There are plenty available for kids in a range of ages.

You can combine your child's interest in the environment with their interest in science too. There are a variety of kits to work on different types of alternative energy sources. You could also work together to build a solar oven or compost using a worm farm.

When you're doing an experiment, make sure you have some basic safety gear for your child. Goggles can be important if you're working with chemicals, as can gloves and a laboratory apron. They won't be needed for all types of experiments, but make sure you have them available if you do anything that might make them necessary.

Perhaps most important, make sure you supervise your child at the level he or she needs. Also be there to answer any questions and to help your child think through what they're seeing as they experiment and observe.