Science Kits

This is yet another pretty clever science kit put out in the Ein-O line of science toys. It’s primarily a DVD that leads kids through several science projects and experiments with the included Lab Notebook and Lab Pack. You watch it in any DVD player (or computer if yours will play DVDs). Each chapter will correspond with a topic and experiment that kids can work through. The projects are mostly stand-alone and can be done in any order but a couple of them do build on previous experiments.

I’ve been very impressed with almost all of the Ein-O science toys and this one is no exception. For around $30 U.S., the Ein-O Science Air Power DVD is a pretty good buy.

If you’re thinking about getting this inflatable set, make sure you’re putting it in a big room as this thing is huge! The sun alone is about three feet in diameter and Jupiter is pretty big as well. Of course the planets aren’t to scale with the sun or else the smaller ones would be about as big as a BB with a three-foot diameter sun. But don’t let that detract you as this really is a pretty cool set. The Giant Inflatable Solar System comes with a foot pump for easier inflating and the valves have little rings on them which make each of them easy to hang with strings. My son has this set hanging from the ceiling in his room (all but the sun which ended up being too big) and it makes for an excellent decor for any kid interested in the solar system. Note, the pretty picture above is not my son. My son’s room is a little more cluttered with books, dinosaurs and Legos.

Overall review: this is one of the cooler science toys out there. It’s pretty pricey, at about $43 US in late 2008, but I think it’s worth it and my six-year-old can now easily name all the planets starting from the sun going out, and even Jupiter’s four biggest moons.

Create an out-of-this-world playroom or bedroom with this unique solar system set. Each colorful planet inflates easily, turning any room into an intergalactic experience. Includes a sun, nine proportionally sized planets with hanging hooks, moon, convenient foot pump, Activity Guide with fun planet facts and repair kit.

I think Uncle Milton has come out with two of the best toy planetariums around. The Star Theater 2, and slightly more expensive Uncle Milton Star Theater SE are both great little kits for any kid interested in the solar system. Both come with a pretty standard planetarium, but this one also has a laser pointer type device for pointing to the stars that you’re looking at. Very cool. It’s also got a pretty educational CD. And the general quality is just pretty good. I played with the planetarium that Slinky Science put out last year and can easily say that the two by Uncle Milton are much nicer.

Overall review: even for the fairly steep price (almost $50 US), it’s one of the better science toys out there. This one even made a couple of lists of the best selling christmas toys of 2008. I can in good faith recommend this one.

I thought this was a pretty clever toy by Uncle Milton. The Solar System in my Room made the list of top 12 best selling toys of 2008. It comes with the light-up solar system model (almost like a mobile, but a bit cooler), a CD that walks you through a tour of the solar system, and even a light-pointer you can use to point out each planet and even make meteors and comets streak through the sky.

As educational toys go, or toys in general, this one is a little more expensive than some: about $36 US, but as far as the learning aspect you’ll get from it, I think it’s well worth it. Most of us know Uncle Milton for their ant farms, but their line of solar racers and solar system toys have given them a nice introduction into the market for science toys.

This is a pretty cool kit, and one that is probably completely unique to Thames and Kosmos. There are plenty of manufacturers out there of your standard chemistry kits and maybe some general science kits as well, but this company has something for about every field of science.

This one in particular deals with optical illusions and how human perception works. Kids will learn about such things as their blind spot, which eye is dominant, and even how our brain works with our eyes  to perceive color, light, perspective, size, depth, shape and motion. The Thames & Kosmos Mind’s Eye Kit is for ages 10 and up and as usual with their kits, the age recommendation is right on. I looked at the instruction manual for this one and immediately knew that it would be too advanced for my first grade son.

You can pick up one of these wherever the best selling toys are found. My overall recommendation: a great kit (for ages 10 to the early teen years), and a great price if you can find it for under $70.

As I’m a big fan of the Thames & Kosmos line of science toys, it comes as no surprise that I was impressed by their partnership with National Geographic in this line of dinosaur and fossil kits. The kits are available in all the primary dinosaurs: the stegosaurus, brachiosaurus, the triceratops and of course the Tyrannosaurus Rex. The one I tried out was the T-Rex.

Don’t be fooled by the box as this is actually a pretty small kit. But at about $7-8 US, it’s packed with some great information and a pretty cool model. It came with three dinosaur fact cards and a very detailed fold-out info sheet. This kit actually made my list of the top 12 best selling toys of 2008 (to date, as of July 1st).

If you’ve got a dinosaur fan on your shopping list, you can’t go wrong with any of the Thames & Kosmos Dinosaur Skeleton Kits.

Another fun one from Tedco’s line of Smart Boxes Ein-O Science kits, this crystal growing kit is pretty advanced. It’s for ages 10 and up, but even the younger kids will enjoy this (as long as they have some grown-up guidance.) Kids can do four experiments dealing with growing crystals. The first one is a basic experiment about simply growing crystals. The Ein-O Science guide is excellent so if you do the experiment while following along in the book, your kids are bound to learn more than they realize. The second experiment has kids making a string of salty crystals. Most folks don’t realize that sodium chloride (NaCl), or common table salt is actually a crystalline structure. Of course, after doing this experiment they’ll know it.

The other experiments have you growing a crystal tree and growing crystals out of a rock. Not turning a rock into crystals, but preparing a rock such that the crystals will emerge from it. Pick up one of these cool science toys from your favorite store selling educational toys and your kid will have some fun. For about $12 US, it’s a pretty good value.

This is a pretty basic book/kit about electronics from SmartLab Toys. I did this science project with my 6-year-old and I would say it’s a pretty good fit for kids in the 6-9 range. The younger kids will obviously need some help putting the wires and motor together but an 8-10 year old should be able to do most of the experiments by themselves.

As with most SmartLab science toys, the best part about it is the excellent book that it comes with. The book in this case, by Luann Colombo and Conn McQuinn is called “Lights, Wires and Wheels.” It’s a basic primer about electricity- how batteries work, how current flows, and how all these in a combination can be used to power a light or make a motor run. The colorful optical wheels that you can connect to the motor’s shaft is a great bonus and serve simply to make the projects more fun.

Overall review- at a price of under $20, and for the age groups mentioned above, the SmartLab First Electronics kit is a great learning toy. Highly recommended.

First I thought Wild Science had really outdone themselves with their Ant-Lantis ant habitat. But this kit is really amazing and I think it’s is even more interesting and educational than Ant-Lantis. The Eco Dome is basically an entire green ecosystem. Everything from the real world is simulated– plants, dirt, rivers/lake, clouds, rain, sun, etc. First, you put it by a lamp or near a window to provide it’s source of energy (simulating the sun). This “sunlight” will cause water vapor from the lake to evaporate which will then condense when it cools off (at night or when you turn the light out). When this condensation reaches the top of the enclosure rain droplets form and water the plants and keep the dirt moist and then run off back into the reservoir (simulated lake).

The Eco Dome is an expensive kit for around $60 US but it’s a very interesting learning tool. Plus it’s connectible to all of the other Wild Science kits such as their Ant Colony or Ant Jungle. Despite the price tag, I can completely recommend this kit for its educational value as well as its fun factor.

If you’ve never tried growing Triops, you should definitely consider it. These are some very cool animals. They are truly prehistoric, as they’ve been around for over 200 million years. That means the same Triops you’ll hatch in your little home aquarium are the same ones the Tyrannosaurus Rex looked down upon millions of years ago. Of course I doubt the T-Rex could see these creatures but if he wanted to he could have…

A lot of people think Triops are like Sea Monkeys. They’re both crustaceans in the Branchiopoda class, but that’s about as far as the similarities go. Sea Monkeys are a type of brine krill and Triops are more like mini horseshoe crabs.  And as far as cool scientific pets go, the Triops win hands down. They are much bigger and grow much faster. I tried the Triassic Triops Deluxe kit and it really did what it said it would do. They hatched overnight and after about three days they started doubling in size every day. All the literature says they’ll live from 20 to 90 days and mine lived about two months so I guess mine were just about average.

There is a ton of information about Triops (or notostracans) out there for anyone wanting to learn more. But if  you’re just looking for a cool science toy, you don’t have to do much research. Just get one of these kits and some bottled water, drop the eggs in and wait. You do have to keep the temperature within the recommended window but other than that, they’re very simple to hatch and raise. Overall rating: great fun and an excellent value for the price.