A Basic Lab Kit with a Glowing Twist
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] It's understandable that Crayola wants to be a part of the STEAM movement, and I applaud the efforts made with this Glow Color Chemistry Set. There are 48 activities in the book. Though we have not completed them all, I felt like I should go ahead and get this review going. The box suggests that the kit would be good for ages 7+, but our family disagrees somewhat. If you would like to keep the 7+ age rating, you should include on the box that adult supervision may be required -- not just that adult supervision is recommended -- for some of the activities so that parents will know that this is not an independent lab kit. My child is is a very smart nine year old, and there were several actvities where she needed some hands-on guidance. Additionally, I believe that every single thing a child needs for the activities should be included in the kit. Any activities that require "household items" should be listed as "bonus activities", because it is unfair to think that every household has access to the same things. For example, while we have ooodles of art supplies at our house, we couldn't come up with one black "washable" marker. We have plently of other crayola markers, and as a teacher I have washable markers at school. But in our house, we didn't have one, so we could not do experiments 3 and 4 -- just as an example. (I don't think it would have been too hard for Crayola to throw in a washable marker.) Experiment 43 requires a sheet of black construction paper. Couldn't you just have included a sheet somehow? As a parent, I want everything in the kit. I don't want to have to buy anything else at the store, and I would prefer not to have to dig through my pantry for other items. If Crayola expects children to complete the experiments in order, that guidance should be given at the beginning of the instruction book. My child was super excited to make slime, which is experiment 14. She jumped right in. The information at the top of the experiment said she would be making a polymer, but it did not tell her what that was. I looked back in the book and found that "polymer" was explained in experiment 8, so the guide book assumed she had already completed other experiments. If the idea is for the experiments to grow increasingly challenging and build on each other, you should explicitly state that in the instruction book. Speaking of experiment 14 -- Sticky Slime! -- we have to report that our slime did not turn into slime. "Slime part A" was difficult to measure into a beaker. It did not flow, so it was hard to tell if we had the correct amount. While measuring is a great part of learning how to do experiments, perhaps pre-measured tubes would be better in this kit when the substance is thick and hard to measure. Also, it would be nice to know what "Slime Part A" and Slime Part B" actually are. Why not include this information on the jars and tubes or in the instruction book? Two other things worth mentioning -- the beaker is too deep for a kid to reach into and get the slime, and the pipette was hard to clean. It was used to stir the mixture, but of course our curious child squeezed the pipette and got slime inside. Why not include a few wooden craft sticks as stirrers? My child enjoyed Experiments 8-10, the ones where you made and used "Glow Worms." She said, "It was fun to play with the worms!" It was neat to see how they all dried up over night as well. Experiments 1 and 2 were easy. Crayola should consider adding language about how the glow pigment may need to be exposed to the light for a while before it actually glows. My child ran into the dark room with her color wheel and nothing happened. We tried it again later after letting it sit in a bright space and it worked. Also, just a little thing -- you call the paint "red" but it clearly looks pink. So you might want to explain that somehow. Experiment 6 and 7 were super fun for my child. She enjoyed making the volcano with the model magic and completing the experiment in two different ways. (Who doesn't love a good acid and base reaction?) Other thoughts: If we don't need goggles, why is the girl in the instruction manual wearing goggles? On the inside front cover, the text in the box is hard to read since the box fades to dark. Why not just make the box lighter like it is on the other pages? We are looking forward to working though more of the experiments as the summer progresses. Thank you for the opportunity to share our experiences and thoughts with you.