Young Scientists Series - Minerals. Crystals and Fossils

I bought the first 3 series of these kits to help my son in science, as we homeschool. He is in third grade, and has already really covered some of this stuff, but this is a great tool to motivate him. He really enjoys using these science kits, and they come complete with everything you need to perform any experiments. He really enjoyed learning how to make paper, and now he has the materials to continue making paper whenever he wants to. He also loved the magnet experiments. I enjoyed the seeds, growing beans and wheat and learning how to graph on a chart, which coincided perfectly with math graphing. Anyway, with each kit you get 3 major "themes" and within each theme you get at least two experiments, sometimes many more. Therefore, if you use these kits regularly they will keep your little scientist very busy! I plan on buying each and every one of them, they arrived in a timely manner, they are packaged nicely in neat boxes, they include all the materials, along with a work packet for the child and a guide for the teacher/parent. They are worth the price.

My kids (ages 5 & 8, whom I homeschool) and I are working our way through the Young Scientist Kits, and just completed the last kit in this set. It contained three kits: one to learn about the Mohs hardness scale and test the hardness of certain rocks, one to grow salt and sugar crystals and learn about different crystal shapes, and one to learn about how fossils are formed and create a mold and cast fossil of a little plastic dinosaur.Everything we needed was in the kits aside from things like bowls and jars or other small household items that nearly everybody would probably have on hand anyway, like measuring spoons. We benefitted from having access to a microscope, and supplemented the units with a visit to a local science museum with a fantastic mineral and fossil collection.I gave this kit 4 stars instead of 5 stars because the rocks that were included to test with the Mohs hardness scale were not good samples. The magnetite was not magnetic, and the calcite did not fizz when dropped in white vinegar like it was supposed to. We got a better quality rock testing kit elsewhere and had much better results.The experiments in this and all of the Young Scientist kits that we've done so far would be very easy to reproduce without buying the kits, but I don't mind spending the money (it works out to about $5 per kit) to use as a spring board to introduce basic topics to my children, gauge their interest, and go from there.

Our 4-yr. old daughter got this kit as a birthday gift and has had a fantastic time doing the experiments with her dad. The pieces are well-labeled and the instructions are clear and easy to follow. They require a little parental guidance, but most can be started in a few minutes -- well within our daughter's attention span. She especially like picking apart the owl pellet and identifying the different mouse and mole bones. Growing brine shrimp also provided several weeks of entertainment as we saw the eggs hatch and grow. The kit also has suggestions for other experiments that use household items -- like dissolving an egg shell in vinegar. I highly recommend this kit to anyone who wants to give a child something more constructive, fun and educational than plopping him or her in front of the TV. And, I'm happy to say that it's actually fun for the adults too!

A great product, a fantastic learning experience. The only dissapointment I had was that I sat down with my son, who was VERY excited to get started and upon reading directions there are several "common household items" needed. None of which I had. The box states on the front 3 complete kits. As I looked at the box, there is indeed in small writing on the back "will need some household items". I just wish I had known ahead of time so I could have been more prepared for my son.However, I am very much looking forward to doing these experiements once I can manage to obtain these "common household items" which are not common in my household.

What a great kit! I wanted to introduce my young daughter to science because, as a young kid, I was so daunted by the subject (and still am).This kit makes every experiment easy. All the items you need are included, so there is no disappointment like there can be with other kits (ie: the time we got an experiment all set up only to discover we needed to provide our own borax. What the heck is borax?!).Just open your chosen project's pouch and go. And each experiment only takes a few minutes to set up, perform and clean up, so it won't take up your whole afternoon.It's a little pricey for the actual components, but for the stress-free, educational experience I get to provide for my child, it's totally worth the price.

We were so excited to get this set. Today we went to make the wind vane for our science experiment, and have been very disappointed in the kit. The nail sent for the wind vane is bigger than the straw. Now, I did not go to Harvard, but I do know that if the straw is bigger than the nail it is not going to spin in the wind. In my opinion this kit is not worth the money. It requires household items and then some of the included items will need to be replaced if you actually want the experiment to work. I was hoping for more from this kit.... Next time I will use my search engine and all household goods and not waste my money on the Young Scientist Series.