GIFTED | Flora has been absolutely LOVING her perks of Mummy’s blog. As a huge fan of STEM and STEAM fun science experiments we’ve recently been reviewing some fabulous kids science subscription boxes from Letterbox Lab. She adored her first two boxes but this one was the one she’d been waiting for with huge anticipation, so here’s how we got on with Magneto Slime *.
Letterbox Lab
Letterbox Lab is a series of 12 linked science kits with full instructions and tools (you just need water for some of the experiments). Online resources and videos accompany every box, plus some suggestions for further experiments and extension activities. The Explore box (for age 6+) and the Investigate box (for age 8+) both support the UK primary school curricula, and one off boxes start at £11.00 including P&P.
Magneto Slime
Magneto Slime is the third in the Investigate box series. This time we had seven different fun science experiments, with a super helpful Messiness star rating at the beginning of each one. After the success of the previous box, Science up your Sleeve, we had a good idea of what to expect 😉 We carried out all of the experiments inside, five on one day, and the messier two on another day.
- Slippery Slime – including shampoo sachet, tube of food colouring, wooden spoon, gloves, bag of cornflower, wax paper, 100ml water, a large bowl
- Cloud in a Bottle – 2 x test tubes, 2 x tubes of blue and red mica powder, bottle of iron filings, scoop, small petri dish, 2 x plastic shells, one of the buzz magnets, some water, the safety goggles from Box 1, and the 4 x LED finger lights from Box 2
- Marble Mystery – test tube full of sand, marble
- Buzz Magnets – paper clip, invisible thread, 2 x buzz magnets
- Pico’s Magnetic Hair – petri dish, roll of sticky tape, bottle of iron filings, one of the buzz magnets, Pico sticker, and the scissors and safety goggles from Box 1
- Magneto Slime – tub of slime, one of the buzz magnets, Letterbox Lab pencil
- Slime Drop – tub of slime, peg, paper funnel
- A 24-page instruction booklet, a safety sheet, a Bronze Investigator Certificate, a Master of Magnets badge, and a special gift for completing three boxes (a dinosaur excavation kit).
Slippery Slime
We had to make our own slime! Flora added cornflower and shampoo then water and the food colouring. It was REALLY hard to mix up, we broke the wooden spoon, so she went in with her hands to squeeze it into a ball. “Wow, it’s mad but I love it.”
What amazed me is that she knew what this experiment was all about already: the Oobleck principle. Oobleck is a non-Newtonian fluid; it has properties of both liquids and solids. You can slowly dip your hand into it like a liquid, but if you squeeze the oobleck or punch it, it will feel solid. I assumed she’d learned it at school but no, “I watched it on YouTube. So you see, Mummy, I don’t just watch Minecraft videos, sometimes I watch science as well.” I have no words. Oh, wait, yes, I do: PROUD MAMA.
Cloud in a Bottle
We had to fill a test tube with water, a few scoops of mica powder, a pinch of iron filings, and shake them up. Luckily, we had two test tubes so we could experiment with both blue and red mica powders.
“Oh WOW, this is so cool. And Mummy, it looks like your Christmas gin from ASDA!” Although I won’t be drinking these liquids, haha… Mica is made up of tiny crystals which reflect the light as they tumble, making the coloured liquid look all sparkly. Using the magnet to move the iron filings around inside the test tube was fun but very much secondary to the light show. We used the coloured finger torches from our previous box and it was just magical to watch.
Flora loved this so much she went off to find another bottle so she could have a third experiment, this time mixing the red and blue mica. This was our favourite of the three 🙂
Next we had to repeat the experiment but using the two plastic shells. This time we filled up both halves with water and mica and then put them in the freezer. Once they were solid, we clicked them together into a globe (like the planet, Jupiter) and waited for them to unfreeze. As you can see, we didn’t fill them up quite enough but we’ll know better next time (!)
Marble Mystery
How much fun could sand and a marble be? We had to get the marble to move from one end of the tube to the other, without opening the tube.
It’s all about how you hold and shake the tube to get the contents to flow – and she did it!
Buzz Magnets
These magnets were soooooo strong, they worked through the table and even through Flora’s hand. Note to self: keep them well away from my mobile phone… They’re called buzz magnets because they bounce off each other repeatedly 🙂
You can throw them (gently) into the air for a similar effect, and then do all sorts of magic tricks with invisible thread, paper clips, and their polarities (north and south). Two poles the same repel each other whereas two opposites will attract each other.
Pico’s Magnetic Hair
I remember having similar toys when I was a child, they were great. Flora stuck the picture of Pico on the inside of the petri dish and then (very carefully) emptied the remaining iron filings into the dish before double-taping the lid shut. Then it was time to have fun with Pico’s hair and beard.
“This reminds me of the Avengers movie, it’s uncomfortable but cool at the same time.” I know what she means, the moving filings are kind of creepy!
Magneto Slime
I knew this would be a hit, Flora adores slime… We had lots of giggles as she made a ball, bounced it, snapped bits off it, and made an arch which stood up for a grand total of three seconds. And because the slime has a little bit of magnetic material in it, when she stretched it out, she could lift it up with one of her buzz magnets.
The best bit was drawing a small picture with the pencil and pressing the putty down onto the picture.
As if by magic, the lead in the pencil drawing stuck to the slime and if you look very closely, you should be able to see the imprint 🙂
Slime Drop
Did you know one of the most famous scientific experiments is the pitch drop? You set something up that will take a long time and have to keep coming back to check on it. So we did one too, with a blob of slime in the paper cone suspended over a glass. It took just over one hour for the first bit to drop off, but three days later the rest still hadn’t all dropped through so we gave up 🙂
Final thoughts
Our favourite fun science experiments were the Cloud in a Bottle and Magneto Slime activities. What impressed me most though was how much Flora already knew, or quickly realised what she had to do. These boxes are brilliant at encouraging science exploration in a really fun way. And just a reminder, everything you need for all the activities is included in the box, with the exception of water, the catalyst for some of the experiments.
We carried out the Investigate Magneto Slime activities over the course of two afternoons during two weekends. Once again, Flora loved every minute. Huge thank you to Letterbox Lab for our third Investigate box – bring on the cabbages and Rocket Fuel in the next box!
What do you think of these fun science experiments for kids? Do you know any kids who’d love to learn more about science with one of these fabulous subscription boxes?
* This post features gifted items but all opinions are our own.
This subscription box looks so fun that I kind of want to try it out for myself! My sister is 8 and I know she would love to have a play around with this, anything involving slime she is obsessed with! X
That’s the benefit of having Flora, I get to have fun and experiment too (and clear up, so swings and roundabouts, haha) x
I am always so fascinated by slime videos on Instagram! Could watch them for ages! never saw magneto slime before and OMG, it looks so so cool!
Eurgh, really?! Although I have to admit, this magneto slime is very cool! 🙂
Oh my goodness this looks absolutely amazing! What an incredible selection of experiments, it sounds like you guys had so much fun doing this together (and I love that she thought the cloud in a bottle was like your gin!)
Such amazing photos, your posts are always so detailed and fascinating!
Hels xx
We had soooooo much fun with this box (and the others before this as well). I’m a bit concerned that she thinks I’d drink sparkly blue gin, haha, but I know what she means 🙂 Thank you, Hels, that’s so kind of you to say so! xx
I love love love science experiments (as long as I’m not in university and getting graded for it that is hahaha) The cloud in the bottle one has to be my favorite of them all!
I was never very interested in science experiments at school but if I’d had a box like this to play with it would probably have been a very different story! Yes, cloud in a bottle is very cool!
Aw this seems like so much fun for kids! I used to love little science experiment kits when I was younger & you can’t beat a bit of slime x
Slime seems to be very popular, haha, not just with kids either, lots of my mummy pals want to play with Flora’s slime as well! 🙂 x
My nieces would absolutely LOVE this! I can only imagine how much fun they would have with everything you have here.
We do have rather a lot of fun, it’s true 😉
Oh the cloud in a bottle is beautiful, don’t get it mixed up with your gin haha! All of these look like so much fun, I love these fun yet still educational type things for kids. I definitely need to look into getting this for my God daughter- she’d love it!
Soph – https://sophhearts.com x
It’s gorgeous, isn’t it? Flora did make me laugh, as if I’d drink blue sparkly gin (although…!) I don’t know how old your god-daughter is but I’m sure she’d love a box too 🙂 xx
I looooove that you get this stuff for Flora. It always looks like so much fun and it’s great that things like this are available for kids now. I think I’d still enjoy this now 😂 x
Sophie
http://www.glowsteady.co.uk
I know, I’m sure if I’d had one of these when I was 9 my contribution to science would have been so much greater 🙂 Now I just have fun with her instead! x
This sounds like so much fun and such a lovely activity to do together! Slime was always popular when I was younger so I’d have loved something like this haha. The cloud in a bottle especially looks brilliant xx
Tiffany x http://www.foodandotherloves.co.uk
It’s such a fun set of activities and the best part is we’re both learning at the same time. Yes, cloud in a bottle was my fave too, just need to remember it’s not gin!! xx
These always look so much fun! I bet Flora learns so much through these but has fun at the same time! x
They are ace! And it’s debatable who has more fun too 🙂 x
Every time I read your Letterbox Lab reviews, I always think whyyyy weren’t these around when I was growing up?! This is exactly the kinda thing I would have LOVED! Each experiment looks like so much fun and really fascinating too. The Cloud In A Bottle looks amazing, how awesome are those colours and ha ha the comment about the Christmas gin made me giggle 🙂 I also love how the cat appeared in the Magneto Slime, science is so cool. I would have endless fun with that one. These sound like the perfect boxes for Flora, I love her natural curiosity, especially how she uses YouTube to learn more about science, smart girl! Thank you for sharing Lisa, really interesting post and glad you both had fun together with this! <3 xxx
Oh, that’s so lovely of you, thank you! And yes, WHY weren’t these around when I was 9? The world has missed out on my very hidden scientific genius, haha. I feel very lucky to be getting these boxes and having fun with Flora, it’s such a fantastic way to spend time together and learn at the same time. I recommend them to everyone, whether they’ve got kids or not! Thank you, Bexa, this was such a lovely comment, I’m glad you enjoyed the post xxx
Oh wow!!! It’s amazing! I will recommend it! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
My niece would absolutely love this (she loves anything to do with slime, but she’s also quite inquisitive about experiments).
I don’t think there’s a child alive that doesn’t love slime (!) so yes, I’m sure she’d love this too 🙂
Do I need a little one to do this activity because it looks like so much fun! I’m just kinda bummed that these didn’t exist when I was younger – it’s not fair, I tell ya!!
Haha, no, I’m sure you don’t! And you’re right, it’s not fair, why weren’t these around when I was Flora’s age 🙂
These science experiment boxes are so cool Lisa. I bet both you and Flora enjoyed a lot. Haha gin! That plastic ball must look shiny with all the mica and water mixture. And yes the magnet filings moving around looks a little creepy hehehe. 🙂
Via | http://glossnglitters.com
They are fantastic fun, and we both learn so much (me just as much as Flora TBH). It’s so lovely to do these experiments together as well, and have something to show at the end of it (even if it’s not drinkable 😉 xx
I love these science boxes Lisa and happy to see you both had fun with this one. My favourite experiment are the ‘clouds, but I also liked the buzz magnets. They made me feel nostalgic as my friend used to do magic tricks in school with his. I also played with metal filings at We the Curious in Bristol.
Oh wow, magic tricks, that must have been such fun to watch. And yes, I’d forgotten about the metal filings at We The Curious, we haven’t been for a while, I think we’re due a revist this summer 🙂