GIFTED | One of the greatest pleasures I’ve experienced as a blogger is the number of amazing activities that I’ve been able to share with my daughter, Flora. And none more so than the fabulous kids science subscription boxes from Letterbox Lab. Flora is a huge fan of STEM and STEAM so these fun science experiments are a massive hit. This is our fourth box to date, so how did we get on with Rocket Fuel? *
Contents
Letterbox Lab
For those who don’t know, Letterbox Lab is a series of 12 linked science kits with full instructions and tools (you only need to add 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.
Rocket Fuel
Rocket Fuel is the fourth in the Investigate box series. This time we had six different fun science experiments, with a (very much appreciated by me) Messiness star rating at the beginning of each one. Flora LOVED her previous box, Magneto Slime, so she was beyond excited when this box arrived. However, I’m rather ashamed to admit, it’s taken far too long to complete. Over a couple of months in fact, entirely due to personal circumstances though, nothing to do with the experiments themselves. Anyway, here’s what was inside:
- Colourful Chemistry – a bottle of indicator powder, a test tube, bottle of vinegar, bottle of sodium bicarbonate, bottle of citric acid, scoop, pipette, safety gloves, test tube rack, screws and screwdriver, the safety goggles from Box 1, the measuring cylinder from Box 1, the other three test tubes from Box 3, and some water
- Painting by Cabbage – a bottle of indicator, a tube of vinegar, a tube of mystery solution, 2 x cotton swabs, blotting paper, the measuring cylinder from Box 1, a plate, and some water
- Vinegar Power – a petri dish, a metal washer, copper pin, bottle of vinegar, electric buzzer, crocodile wires, the measuring cylinder from Box 1, a plate, and some water
- Chemical Connections – a tube of salt, tube of vinegar, 2 x wires, scoop, test tube rack, a test tube, vinegar battery, bottle of indicator, the measuring cylinder from Box 1, a plate, and some water
- Rocket Balloons – string, long balloon, blower tube, round balloon, 3 x sticky labels, 2 x straws, and the scissors from Box 1
- Fizz Rocket – rocket engine (little white pot), sticky-back craft foam, craft foam, vitamin tablet, clear plastic sheet, glue dots, rocket templates, and the scissors, measuring cylinder and safety goggles from Box 1, some water, and a tray
- A 24-page instruction booklet, a safety sheet, and a Rocket Scientist badge.
Colourful Chemistry
This was all about learning what acids and alkalis are and how they react with other substances. Also the importance of having a control, so you can measure your results effectively. But before we started, Flora had to build her own test tube rack (we loved this little bit of engineering!)
Next, she had to add 5ml water to the indicator powder and shake until dissolved. Then add 5 drops of indicator to each test tube, which were 3/4 filled with water, changing the colour to a lovely purple.
Now for the fun part: adding vinegar to tube 1, bicarbonate of soda to tube 2 and citric acid to tube 3. If you cast your mind back to your school science days, you might recall acids turn red and alkalis turn blue. And the control tube with nothing added stayed purple.
Then it was time to swap the colours over and turn them back into what they were initially by adding alkalis to the acid tubes, and vice versa. And we also noticed that sodium bicarbonate mixed with the acids made carbon dioxide bubbles. Exactly like in Box 2, when we made CO2 to put out the flame 🙂 We could have gone on to make a really huge, colourful fizz explosion, but I decided to save that for another day, much to Flora’s chagrin.
Painting by Cabbage
I’ve never painted with a cabbage before so I can’t begin to tell you how curious I was for this experiment. It was at this point we realised that the indicator powder was cabbage: reader, it STANK. Rather Flora than me, haha. Anyway, after diluting a few drops in water, she poured it all over her blotting paper, which turned a lovely marbled purple.
Then she dipped a cotton swab into vinegar and began to draw…
And the final part of the experiment was to use the mystery solution to turn the paper blue. So, if you’ve been paying attention (!) the vinegar turned the paper pink (acid) and the mystery solution turned it blue so it must be… an alkali. The final fun touch was to mix the two liquid together and make the paper fizz – which, if you look very closely, you can see that she did.
Vinegar Power
This experiment took me right back to my school days too. By using combining vinegar, copper, metal, and wire, you can produce electrochemistry. Static electricity comes from positive and negative charges reacting against each other. Moving negative electrons create an electrical current and pushing that current through vinegar makes electricity. Which when it goes through a buzzer, makes it buzz, or sing. MAGIC OR WHAT!
And if you move the copper pin away from the metal washer, the tone changes. And stops altogether when you take the copper pin out of the vinegar solution. Utterly fascinating, no? (You might need to listen with everything else turned off to hear it properly).
Chemical Connections
Flora clipped one end of each crocodile wire to the copper pin and to the washer, and put the other ends of the wires into a test tube with some diluted salt and cabbage powder. Initially the water was a pale purple but over the course of 24 hours, the electricity’s chemical reaction turned the water turned clear again.
Once again, this was a lesson in the power of acids and their reactions and how we can generate electricity using a very simple set of tools. Also in the power of an acid (vinegar in this case) to corrode metal if left in contact too long. We left it for a week, and you can clearly see the washer beginning to rust.
Rocket Balloons
Have you ever blown up a balloon and then let it go? Well, this is exactly what we had to do here, this time with one long balloon and one round balloon. When you let the balloon go, the air pressure continues to press on the front of the balloon while escaping out the back. Driving it forwards, although not necessarily in a straight line…
In an attempt to exert more control and be more scientific (obvs), we had to blow up the balloons again, stick them to a straw and thread the string through the straws. Holding the strings tightly, it was time to release the balloons! Before you watch the next video, which one do you think will move up the string the fastest?
Were you right? Well, the reason the round balloon won (despite falling off, as noted by my eagle-eyed daughter), is because the long balloon lets air out more slowly. The round balloon has greater air pressure. This was all about the law of “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction,” as discovered by none other than Sir Isaac Newton. Needless to say, we had to run multiple tests, you know, just to be sure 🙂
Fizz Rocket
The first thing Flora had to do was build her rocket, which she was quite grumpy about, complaining it took her ,”over 559 hours to make.” Can you tell she’s my daughter?
Once made, it was time to take the final activity outside. She put 1/4 of a vitamin tablet along with some water inside the plastic pot body of the rocket and quickly put the lid back on. Then we all stood back, ready for launch.
It was AMAZING! The science bit for those who are interested is simple. Vitamin tablets have some acid and alkali in them and, when mixed with water, they produce carbon dioxide gas. The CO2 gas built up inside the rocket pot engine until the cap blew off and propelled the rocket skywards. I’m willing to bet that this is something Berocca don’t tell you on their labels, but wow, this activity was the BEST FUN IN THE BOX!
Final thoughts
Our favourite fun science experiments were the last two activities. As you can probably tell from the laughter in the videos! Once again, what I love about these subscription boxes is how accessible and easy they make science in a really safe and encouraging way. I’m always amazed at how resourceful Flora is, and these boxes are just so much fun to boot.
Huge thank you to Letterbox Lab for our fourth Investigate box. We’re looking forward to becoming Glow it Alls next, and we promise to complete the activities a lot quicker this time too!
Have you learned anything new about Rocket Fuel? Do you know any kids who’d love to learn more about Rocket Fuel – or indeed science in general – with one of these fabulous subscription boxes?
* This post features gifted items but all opinions are our own.
Looks like this was a lot of fun! I love kid friendly science experiments. I think it’s great that they have these as it’s an awesome way to get kids interested in learning about science and everything involved. It’s also a great way to keep them having fun and occupied without sitting in front of a TV or iPad.
Oh, it was soooo much fun, even though it was aimed at Flora (she’s 9) I had a blast as well 🙂 And yes, I agree, anything to keep her away from the TV and iPad for a while has to be a bonus!
I probably say this every time, but I seriously wish Letterbox Lab was around when I was growing up, it looks like so much fun!! I really enjoyed watching the videos, the rocket balloons and Flora’s giggling is so cute and funny, it sounded like she was having such a good time! I honestly had no idea which balloon would win the race, it’s fascinating when you find out the reasons behind why things happen – science is really cool. The Fizz Rocket is definitely my favourite, I never knew Vitamin tablets were so explosive haha! Thanks for sharing your experiments Lisa and Flora, such an interesting and enjoyable read! <3 xxx PS. I dunno if it would work, but those test tubes and rack look perfect to recycle and grow some seeds in!
B
Oh, I do too, who knows, I might even be a scientist by now (in my dreams)! I’m glad the fun element came across, we had some real laughs and it was hard to pick which videos to include in the post. I think the Fizz Rocket was probably my favourite too, although if you try this at home, definitely do it outside, haha. Thank you for your lovely comment, Bexa, I’m so pleased you enjoyed our review. And I’d love to try the seeds in test tubes idea but I think the rack and tubes will be needed for our next few boxes so I’ll bookmark that idea for the future 🙂 xxx
LOVE stuff like this – printing this off and trying it out!! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much, I’m glad you enjoyed it – and good luck!
This is such a great idea. I’ve never heard of them before but I know someone who would absolutely love this. Thank you for sharing
Aren’t they though? I’m so glad you enjoyed the review, I hope your someone will love a box too 🙂
I know I’ve said this before but I love it when Flora gets stuff gifted 😂. These activities all look like so much fun. I wish stuff like this was around when I was her age. I love how you can tell how much she’s enjoying it in the little clips, so cute x
Sophie
Ha, yes, I’m contemplating a separate category for her stuff! Thank you – with these boxes you can’t tell how much fun it is just from the pictures, that’s why we decided to include some videos 🙂 x
Awesome. Do you happen to know of any fun science books/stories that could be read to kids instead of reading fairy tails?
Thank you 🙂 Depending on how old your kids are, and off the top of my head, I’d recommend Nick Arnold’s books. And if you Google “fun science books for kids”, you’ll find masses of suggestions that you can narrow down according to age – good luck!
Thanks for the info
These experiments are so cool. I’m sure that kids can learn and have a lot of fun doing it. Thank you so much for sharing.
They’re brilliant, and yes, Flora learns a lot from them, she’s a lucky girl 🙂
This is awesome! Definitely can’t imagine the cabbage painting smelling good! I love seeing all the creative activities you and Flora get up to, this is such a lovely box! The Fizz Rocket sounds amazing! Gorgeous photos, I love the video clips.
Hels xx
The boxes are SOOOO good, they’re such fun to do and so educational at the same time. Honestly, we (me just as much as Flora) learn so much, we love them. And yes, Fizz Rocket was awesome, haha. Thank you, Hels, I’m glad you enjoyed it! xx
I’d love to play with this myself! I can’t believe how educational and informative these boxes are – they provide so much for kids to learn from in a fun way. Much better than how you’re taught at school haha! I remember learning about acids and things but it never went in! Glad Flora loves this so much xxx
You’ll have to find an 8 or 9 year old and rope them in – I’d loan you Flora but Essex is a bit too far away, haha. Yes, I agree, if only I’d had access to something like this when I was her age I know I would have enjoyed science a whole lot more than I did. She and I are very lucky now! xxx
If only they had these sort of things when I was at school – I failed science so it’s a bit of a sore subject but I find some aspects quite interesting. The boxes are a great idea because it’s making learning fun and that’s brilliant! Glad Flora’s enjoying them. Thanks for sharing x
I know, school science would have been SO much more fun! Thank you, Joy, we do love these boxes, they are brilliant at encouraging Flora (and other kids) to learn 🙂 x
This is so cute! I loved stuff like this as a kid, but painting by cabbage wasn’t a thing when I grew up – that one looks so interesting!
Ash | thisdreamsalive.com
I’ve yet to find anyone who painted by cabbage as a child, I think it’s an entirely unique experience 🤣
This is great! I love kits like this that encourage children to explore and embrace their love of science – skills that we really should be promoting more often! It looks like they ha a great time
It’s wonderful isn’t it? Such a brilliant way to get them interested in STEM and STEAM subjects, in a really fun way too 🙂
So funny post. Thanks for sharing with us.
Have more fun.
You’re welcome, I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂
this is so great… i need this box for my sons…my 7b years old would love it… great science project indeed…. thanks for sharing in detail… videos and pictures are so helpful and explaining very well…totally love this post….❤️
http://www.geniusenough.com
I’m sure any 7 year old would LOVE one of these boxes, I mean who wouldn’t enjoy making a mess, haha. But seriously, they’re so good at making science accessible and fun, I’m glad that came across with our videos too, thank you for reading our post 🙂
This is such a fun way to get children involved in science, what’s great way to learn out of a classroom too. A fun activity you can do as a family! These kits look so much fun! I am sure my nephew would love something like this! Thank you for sharing your experience with this kit xxx
It’s brilliant, isn’t it? I really wish they’d been around when I was at school, I’m sure it would have made a massive difference to how I thought about science. I’m making up for lost time now though, haha. And yes, I’m sure any boy would love one of these kits! xx
Definitely, more hands on and made to be fun! May have to look into this as a present for him xx
He’s a lucky boy to have you! xx
I am definitely more lucky xx
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