My Blessings From Above: Science Kit

Back in November I found a post about homemade science kits at Roots and Wings. I tucked it away knowing that it would make a great gift one of these days.

My nephew’s birthday was this month and I was thinking about what we could get him. Then I remembered the science kit idea. I knew this would be a hit. I set out in search of some cool science experiments.

My problem was choosing which experiments! There are so many, in books, on the internet ideas abound! I did research for a couple of days and finally came up with a list any 7 year old boys would love.

I used two websites. Science Bob and Steve Spangler Science. This is a fantastic website where you can buy science kits, supplies and much more. I went to the science experiments page and looked over the different experiments.

Here is a list of the experiments I used:

Silly Putty (also called Glacier Gak) this experiment worked really well. The boys and I tested this one.
Film Canister Rocket
Make Your Own Lava Lamp
Make Your Own Volcano
Clean Pennies with Vinegar
Color Mixing Tray Experiment
Grow a Dinosaur
Water Cubes Experiment
Jelly Marble Experiments
Baby Soda Bottle Test Tube Experiments

I typed them up and added a couple of science related graphics and put them in a three pronged folder. I wrote my nephew’s name on the front in the title laminated it, cut it out and attached it to the cover of the folder.

Inside the folder.

I picked up a container with a snap lid from the dollar store and filled it with the items necessary for the experiments.

I recycled some containers (I keep a large plastic tote filled with used clean containers that can be recycled for other uses.) Pictured above:

salt
Borax
polymer clay (on sale for 99 cents at Michael’s craft store)
Elmer’s glue (bought in quanity for 20 cents at the back to school sale)
Magic snow (purchased at 5 Below)
Mini color mixing tray (Steve Spangler Science~SSS)
Film canisters (you can as at Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid any store that has a photo center and they may give them to you. I was unable to find any so I bought them from SSS)
Baby soda bottle test tubes (SSS. I purchased 15 of them for $10 and they were divided up between three kids)
Pop rocks experiment kit (Dollar Tree)
Mentos Geyser Tube kit (You can order this from the SSS site, but I found it at 5 Below a bit cheaper. You actually don’t even need to buy this kit you can pick up a pack of mentos and use a test tube that will hold them in a row to drop them into a soda bottle for this experiment)
Liquid Marbles (these are similar as the jelly marbles you can buy at SSS but I found them in Dollar Tree for a $1. The difference is they are already hydrated and the ones at SSS are dehydrated.)

I also put some of the supplies for the experiments in snack bags.

Above:

Watch it grow dinosaur (5 Below for $1.50. You can also find these at Dollar Tree)
Pennies and screws for a penny experiment
Water Cubes (SSS)
Mentos~extra pack to do the soda geyser experiment a second time. (Dollar Tree)
Pipettes (Oriental Trading Company)
Antacid Tablets (like Alka-Seltzer only I purchased the generic)
Food Coloring

The science kit box all packed up and ready to go. I created a label for the top to match the experiment folder.

A few bigger items that would not fit in the box

connector and two one liter bottles for creating a tornado effect (SSS)
Vegetable Oil
Baking Soda
Vinegar
Empty soda bottle

All ready to go into the gift bag. This kit did cost me a little over $25. You could spend as little or as much as you wanted and really make kit for around $15 if you cut back on some of the more pricey items. It was super fun putting it together and my boys and I are going to be trying many of these experiments though out the year.