The Magic School Bus - Chemistry Lab

This is a fun chemistry for kids to do science experiments. Yes, the first 12 of the "50" experiments are introducing the child to the parts of the kits and basic directions, the experiments are great ones for kids to try. My 9 and 11-year old can do the experiments on their own. Here is a list of household supplies that you will need to have on-hand (or buy) to complete all of the experiments, in case you want to get in advance: Salt, cornstarch, water, ice, vinegar, baking soda, pennies, lemon juice or cola, cup, pepper, baking dish, scissors, disposable bowls, piece of bread, sugar, 2 zip-lock bags, 2 pieces of banana, vegetable oil, pancake syrup, markers, rubbing alchol, yellow or red leaves, raisins, soda water, small glass, tall glass, egg, chicken bones, jar, milk, food coloring, cereal bowl, 2 pieces construction paper, 1 liter plastic bottle, measuring cup, tape, newspaper, black paint, paint brush (last 7 items are for #50 experiment). Most supplies are small amounts that are used. Baking soda, vinegar & water are used in many experiments.

Exactly as described, arrived quickly. Great birthday present for my 8 year old grandson

I bought this kit for my five year old son. Surprisingly, the included items are of a pretty good quality. I was a bit surprised that some needed ingredients were not included and had to be provided by the user, but I guess it is OK. For example, we do not use corn starch at home, so one experiment has to wait until I bought corn starch. It would be nice if the creators of the kit either provided some cornstarch or recommended an alternative, but it is not a big deal for me. Ingredients you need to supply on your own are marked on each experiment card with a little house icon. We are still going through the experiments, but my son loves doing them and is looking forward to using the kit every day. He liked testing with included litmus papers vinegar, milk, and lime juice, and then recording his observations and conclusions in the note book. Certain experiments did not work very well - for example, sticky ice did not work, potentially because in CA it is too warm for the water melted by salt to refreeze. Yeast-generated gas didn't inflating the balloon. We could feel some gas inside the balloon, but it did not rise as shown on the experiment card. Chromatography of color markers didn't work at all. Glue slime came out as cottage cheese. Volcano eruption worked, but I had to double all ingredients. Still, with several tries and help of internet you can make most experiments work. To me the kit is still worth it because of provided supplies and tools. In my view, the kit works on many different levels. It teaches children chemistry, organizing workplace, safety (wearing goggles), accuracy (measuring), motor skills (using pipette, etc.), observing the results and drawing conclusion, reading (instruction cards), and writing (notebook). I would recommend this kit to others, just expect you will have to re-try certain experiments. Alternatively, you can look up simple experiments online.

This product is extremely high quality. The cards are engaging and pretty easy to understand and the materials are well organized and easy to find. If your child has any interest in science, this is a great way to nuture a future career. I really loved how the cards moved through easy steps to explore the kit and once you spend a little time on this with your child, they would soon be independent in doing the experiments. My only critique to make the product even better would be to have the fun box design be more user friendly to store the materials in...Once you take the supplies out, the cardboard that holds the bus roof up is confusing to put back together, even for an adult. You won't be disappointed in investing in this kit.

51 experiment *cards" is technically true, because their 16 experiments cover 51 cards. We counted actually different 8 chemistry experiments, 5 physics experiments and 2 biology. Many of these amount to letting food products sit on the parents' kitchen counter, for up to a week. Most of the materials are from your own home. The experiments begin on card #13. They actually ask the kid to blow bubbles with a straw into water and count that as an entire experiment. And usually it's all your own materials. For example, on card #50 you use your own construction paper, your own tape, your own plastic liter bottle, your own measuring cup, four, water, newspaper, black paint and paint brush. All your own. The actual cooler experiments are: 1. & 2. mixing baking soda with vinegar (including one with copper pennies, for copper plating of piece of iron) 3. surface tension demos 4. chromatography (that is cool) 5. melting of (your) ice using (your) salt 6. mold (biology) 7. yeast eating banana 8. vinegar dissolving eggshell and softening bones 9. non-newtonian fluid of water and cornstarch, using your supplies 10. exploring pH But they stretch each of these out to several cards. For artwork, I would give it 5 stars. The packaging is amazing and if the idea is get a kid psyched about science, that's good. It is basically all packaging. If you want to just do experiments like this, you can find instructions online and buy a few materials like pH paper and chromatography paper for less money.