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.

This is a wonderful chemistry set. I bought it for my 9 year old granddaughter and she and I had a great time with it. The directions are simple and most of what you need for the experiments are in your kitchen cabinet. Anything else is included in the set. We got through nearly half of the experiments in one sitting and if we'd had more time, we would have done them all. I even learned a bit about chemistry and it was fun for my granddaughter. There were several experiments that I'd like to do again, just for the fun of it. I should say that the company that was supposed to ship this, after ordering it through Amazon, sent me the wrong item. They don't know if someone grabbed the wrong box in the warehouse or if they made a decision to replace it with a different chemistry set because they were out of the Magic School Bus set. Either way, they told me to keep the item (which I will give to a different grandchild) and refunded my money. I had to order the Magic School Bus from another company outside of Amazon.

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.

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

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.

I am a homeschooling mom of a 7 year old boy who loves science. However, I really did not want to spend $300 on a science curriculum. I had looked up experiments and got books and stuff, but the experiments always ended up needing something that I did not normally keep in the house and I didn't want to keep running to the store and spending all sorts of money on supplies. Then I found this kit. For a great price, it comes with over 50 experiments and all the supplies needed to do them except the most basic kitchen materials (vinegar, baking soda, cornstarch, etc). We are half way through the cards and have yet to come across an experiment that needed something that wasn't included in the kit or I didn't have in my kitchen. Plus, the experiment and results are explained on the back of each card so your child learns the "why" behind the reaction. I will definitely be buying more of these kits.

I gave the kit 5 stars because it is really a neat kit IF it comes with all the pieces. My son if 5 and he loves it. We gave it to him as a Christmas present. When we opened it it was missing the ph chart, the piece of iron, the peppercorn, the string, the popsicle stick and the 2 balloons. I was very very ANNOYED to say the least. Luckily most of those things are laying around my house, but still. One of the reasons I bought this particular kit was because I wouldn't have to go hunting these things down in order to do the experiments with my kids. It's pretty much open up and get to it. And the measuring spoon isn't very sturdy my son broke it the first time he took it out of the box. I wanted to give it less than 5 stars because of all the missing parts, but it is still a fantastic kit to help the kids do some hands on experiments. I love that it comes with the litmus and ph papers because that is definitely not something I have laying around my house. The experiment cards are really nice quality and it appears they will last a long time. All in all it's a hit and my son begs to do the experiments every day.