STEM is so important as it pervades every part of our lives and by exposing young children to STEM is one of the greatest gifts of knowledge we can ever give them. This Easter holiday, we are thrilled to be able to experience a brand new range of science toys from Thames & Kosmos and also divert the children away from their screens and learn something.
Thames & Kosmos has launched a series of eight exciting science kits that are designed to introduce various topics with interesting experiments and fun facts. Each kit is priced at just £8.99 which is very affordable and delivers genuine learn-while-they-play experiences for young ones. These lovely collection kits cover minerals, planets, crystals, pre-historic crustaceans and more. The kits are suitable for age eight and above.
We have received the Bouncing Planets and Crystal Geode kits to enable both of my children to get hands-on this Easter! We first started off with the Bouncing Planets kit, which comes with two ball moulds, five packets of coloured granules, petri dish, pipette, a small plastic tub and instructions.
To make your planets, you need to fill in the moulds with the coloured granular material. It didn’t take Mr K long to fill it and within minutes, his mould was ready to be filled with warm water. I did place the ball mould onto the petri dish to catch any loose granules and later used the loose granules on the dish to create a space mat!
Each ball takes 2 minutes in the water and then you need to wait for three minutes before you should remove from the mould. Mr K is impressed with the layers of colours he was able to create. We did wait until the next day for the surface to dry before we played with it. There is a surplus of granules to make more balls or create your own planet rings!
Next, we have the Crystal Geode which includes all the ingredients and instructions needed to grow your own crystals in a self-cast plaster mould. Then transform them into beautiful shiny crystal geode forms, creating a unique and mysterious spherical rock formation. There are a total of three experiments that will take at least 3 days to complete so patience is the key to success! You will need to have a jar and the use of a pot.
For the first experiment, we mixed the crystal powder with water until it dissolved and left it to cool. After a day, we retrieved the crystals and stored them in a container. The crystals are easily broken but it does look very impressive. We were unable to grow a lot of crystals but it is still a handful of beautiful crystals.
Then for the second experiment, we filled the mould with the plaster powder and scattered the crystals in it! The plaster is quite easy to mix and the materials turn very hard quickly so it is best to be quick.
Then for the third experiment, we made more crystals but this time around, we added red dye to the crystals. For this experiment, it can get quite messy so it is best to wear gloves. Now we just have to wait for it to dry and we will have a crystal geode. It is not the most attractive geode but at least we had fun making it!
There is a wide range of these experiment kits to keep your child hands-on and learn something new this Easter. The kits also allow you to take it where ever you go! You can get them from Thames & Kosmos, Amazon and good toy retailers.
Disclosure: We received the samples for the purposes of writing this review, however, all thoughts and opinions remain our own.