Peter Wilson is a children’s entertainer but he doesn’t do magic tricks or try to wow them in the aisles with his singing. His speciality of demonstrating scientific principles with hands-on, no-nonsense props has made him a popular performer at schools and festivals.

He has now started to sell the accessories that make up these props so teachers can put on a show. The Squidy Cartesian Divers are placed in a plastic bottle fll of water and, by squeezing it, children make them sink and should learn a little bit about the principles of pressure along the way. Glass Divers (pound;6) are also available for the same experiment.

Other props in the range include the Tornado Tube (pound;2.50), which, when combined with two plastic bottles, water and food colouring, will allow you to whip up your own home-made force of nature.

In a similar vein, the Fountain Tube, (pound;3), when attached to those ubiquitous plastic bottles, can be used to create a classroom water feature. All props come with a suggestions leaflet.

Yolanda Brooks