Earlier this week we've been playing with Wild! Science Lava Lamp and Glitter Tube Factory, making me think of Eddie and myself as glamorous Meg and Mog, throwing things into a cauldron.
Wild!Science is a range of collectible science kits, which are designed to have a great play value while being educational. To encourage families to explore scientific concepts and skills, Wild Science has launched a fantastic competition.
The Wild! Science Global Science Challenge is giving families (2 adults and 2 children) everywhere the chance to win:
- A trip to Orlando, Florida
- Entry to Disney World
- Accommodation to a 5-star resort for 7 days
- Car hire for 7 days
- A full set of Wild Science product- Entry to the Kennedy Space Centre to meet a real astronaut
How to enter:
1. Buy a Wild! Science Kit and send a receipt copy with your online application.
2. Design and create an awesome new Wild! Science Kit.
3. Write and illustrate a basic instruction book to show other kids how to use your awesome Wild! Science Kit.
There are not that many creative competitions around for the whole family to take part. This competition is a perfect chance for everyone to get creative.
To check out just how tricky those kits might be, Eddie and I have agreed to test one of the Wild Science kits. We have chosen a Lava Lamp and Glitter Tube Factory.
The blurb says:
"Create dazzling optical effects by reflecting light from glitter and bubbling water. In the glitter tube, the glitter is suspended in a thick liquid called glycerine. Each piece of glitter is a tiny mirror that reflects light and with lots of tiny mirros, the light is scattered in all directions to create a sparkling effect. In the lava lamp, a fizzy chemical reaction between an acid and a base produces bubbles of carbon dioxide gas, creating a spectacular effect that looks just like an underwater volcano!"
Sounds exciting!
Let's have a peek inside the box which has the following contents: LED flasher, double-sided tape, lab gloves, glitter, glitter tube filled with glycerine, glitter tube base and cap, sodium bicarbonate, citric acid, beaker, red colouring, beaker, spoons, lava lamp jar, base and cap and more.
We were first advised to assemble a LED flasher. It does say in the instructions that it won't last forever, but we didn't count on it to hardly last at all. When you press on it, it goes flashing for 14 seconds.
We struggled to make it work. I don't know if we got a malfunctioning flasher, as reading other people's reviews of the same product, I don't see anyone mentioning it. Our flasher was a real pain. You press and press, and nothing is happening.
After the flasher fiasco, we built a glitter tube. This was very easy and straighforward.
We added some of the glitter into a glitter tube filled with glycerine. The tiny particles of glitter are suspended in the glycerine solution and act like mini mirrors. It's a pretty little thing.
Though the set is aimed at children aged 8+, Eddie who is not yet 7, begged me to let him build a lava lamp. I agreed for him to have a go, under my strict supervision.
To make a bubbling chemical reaction, he first needed to make some Fizzy Discs.
He carefully scooped sodium bicarb from a blue-labelled bottle and citric acid from the red-labelled bottle into a beaker, then we added a few drops of red colour.
Stirring the mixture helps it to get all bright red and crumbly. Then the mix is scooped into the Fizzy Disc mould to make six fizzy discs.
Then we counted to 60. Our discs were still rather crumbly, I think we overdid with the red colour.
The red mass starts to fizz in the tube.
Put on the lava lamp cap and push down to turn on the LED flasher which is inside the base. Again, we didn't manage to make the flasher work, but the lava effect itself was pretty, with small blobs of red going up and down.
The instructions booklet is educational, and explains the chemical process behind the activities.
Eddie had great fun, playing with the set. He was also very proud to "do chemistry", and is enthusiastic about trying the other products from the range.
Check out the Wild Science range at FlairPlc.
Disclosure: We received the set for the purposes of testing and reviewing. All opinions are our own.
Yay, well done Eddie, you did a great job ! Our flasher was slightly temperamental - you have to push quite hard on the cardboard disc for it to work but Juliette managed, just about!
ReplyDeleteIt was a combined effort, but he did well, he was very accurate, measuring things
Delete