droolicious : science

Where Will Your Green Thumbs Take You Today?

JeanneSager — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:46:00 GMT

Baby botanists get ready, get set, get digging.

The Young Scientists Club has a new spring kit for little kids to get their thumbs - and the rest of their fingers - dirty. The Science on a Garden Adventure set is stocked with a small plastic terrarium, peat pellets and seeds for spinach, wheat, marigold and zinnias - plus all they need to put together a real science experiment.

There's the makings of a sun dial, mini garden tools for mini garden makers and pH tests to cover all the bases (and acids too).

And in case this is sounding too much like science class, they threw in a few sheets of stickers and a pack of plastic bugs to make this educational adventure a whole lot of fun.

Get the kit from Kid Science Kits.

Remote Controlled Solar System Perfect For Junior Astronomers

Chris Ford — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:30:00 GMT

Most kids go through a period of fascination with outer space and the solar system (I know I did), and if you've got one that has more than a passing fancy, this might be for you. The R/C Animated Solar System Mobile hangs from your ceiling and has a Sun that lights up with nine planets that orbit around it. Well, eight planets really, plus Pluto.

Poor Pluto.

The mobile runs on batteries and has a remote control that operates it. The remote also doubles as a light-pointer which (according to the web site) your kids can use to "make comets and meteors streak through the night sky." It even comes with a companion CD that explains and describes stuff.

It looks pretty cool to me, though it would be cooler if you could wire it directly into a ceiling light fixture. Now all I have to do is figure out when my daughter will start learning about the planets in school.

R/C Animated Solar System Mobile, $39.99 from ThinkGeek.com

Tent-tastic Butterfly Habitat

Lisa Mulcahy — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:48:00 GMT

I have great childhood memories of an amazing butterfly exhibit at the Bronx Zoo where you were able to walk through an entire room of butterflies as they fluttered about. That’s why I love this Butterfly Bungalow. It’s hands-on and sure to be a meaningful learning experience.

Unlike some of the other butterfly kits out there, The Butterfly Bungalow Habitat, $39.95, provides up-close observation as kids raise their own painted lady butterflies from larvae. The thrill of jumping in the tent with them . . . priceless.

Is This Girl Power?

Erin Behan — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:37:00 GMT

When I first popped over to GirlMogul's site I was pleased to find a site offering T-shirts that say things like "Future Leader of the Free World" ($11.99-$21.99) and "Computer Geek" ($12.99-$21.99). And then I took a look at the Girl Power Science Kit page. In theory, it's a good idea, but the copy hit me wrong:

"I remember my first chemistry set--I faked being sick to stay home with it. It wound up being disappointing--the directions were hard to read, the child safety tops on the chemicals to hard to use ... But now all that's changed."

The message I'm hearing here is that chemistry was too hard for girls, but now we have a science kit that makes it not-so-hard. Isn't that sweet? Even sweeter, girls can learn science by making perfume with the Perfumery Kit ($19.99) and fragrant bath gels, bath fizzers and spa lotions with the Spa Science Kit ($19.99). Am I being too sensitive here or does it seem like this is one step forward, two back, for girls?

Geeky Toys: A Better Ant Farm

Kelly Mills — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 20:06:00 GMT

I have a serious aversion to bugs, but I have tried to hide it from my kid, in the hopes that she will not be swayed from a bright future as an entomologist if she is so inclined. So this ant farm ($29.99) has been a great way to combine technology and nature in one gel-filled plastic case. Kids and grownups of any age will tweak out on this space-age-looking habitat. The gel was perfected by NASA, and it is both the nutrition and the environment for the ants, as they tunnel around bathed in a cool LED glow. A word of warning: you have to catch your own ants for this baby, but hey, if I can swallow my fear and pick up insects and creepy crawlies with a forced smile for my kid, so can you.

droolicious : science

Where Will Your Green Thumbs Take You Today?

How to Build Their Fairytale Garden

Remote Controlled Solar System Perfect For Junior Astronomers

Tent-tastic Butterfly Habitat

Is This Girl Power?

Geeky Toys: A Better Ant Farm