Kid's Panning for Gold Kit

Details:  Dr. Cool's Kid's Pan for Gold Kit can be purchased from the Link provided.  This is a great science kit for children 4 and up.  Learn how to pan for gold and discover with Dr. Cool.  The Kit includes 1 Adventure Guide, 1 Activity Booklet, 10" miner's pan, 2 bags of dirt (practice dirt, and pay dirt), real fool's gold specimen, tweezers, magnifying glass, nugget vial and storage bag.  Can be translated into German, French, Spanish.  Learn about Gold uses from around the world, the California gold rush, how miners panned for gold then and now, what gold ore is, and the differences between gold and pyrite.  Test your skills with hands on panning with your own "pay dirt" and pan.

Extras: * Learn how to pan for gold just like a real prospector with this hands-on science kit
* Kit includes 10” prospectors pan, tools, storage vial, practice and advanced miner bags of paydirt, plus large fool’s gold nugget
* Perfect gift for any kid aged 6-12 that is interested in gold, prospecting, science, or geology
* Full Color Info and Activity guides written by teachers are filled with cool science facts about gold
* Winner of Dr. Toy Best Picks for New Products Award
* Kids award winning pan for gold science toy

Disclaimer: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

My Review: This kit from Dr. Cool's Sciences is really neat for my kids aged 4 and 7.  Both loved it to different degrees.  As we Home School, I'm always looking for tools, supplies, supplements, games, activities, field trips, etc to help bring our schooling into a more Interactive focus.  This is one such supplemental activity for science.  My children love rocks, so what better way to help teach Earth science than to help them learn more about rocks, minerals, gems, jewels, and the refining process.  We've been to many museums lately where they have seen gold, silver, copper, jewels and gems, crystal formations, lava rocks, moon rocks, etc.  So to have the opportunity to learn about one way people used to find and get gold really helps bring what they learn from their books, field trips, me as their Teacher and such is a great way to impliment my goal of Interact Home Schooling.  The day we got this in the mail was the same day that we opened it up, used it, read the booklets, did the activities and panned for gold.  I gave both kids a chance to pan for gold and use the tweezers to pick out the gold nuggets.  My 4 year old needed more help with the panning part (as we did end up with sand and water all over the floor with him.  But my 7 year old could to everything pretty much on his own, but I still stayed put to supervise.  They loved the history behind everything and the activity booklet's mazes, dot to dots, and word searches were handy and fun!  My only thought is that it's a one time activity, so once we've used up the sand and gold nuggets I'm not really sure what to do with this kit...maybe if the company offered a recycling effort for their pan, and box and booklets that was also free to those who purchased it this way it doesn't necessarily go to waste once the pay dirt is gone.

Pros: fun for kids, great for parents, teachers and home schooling

Cons: a one use activity kit, not sure what to do with all the left over materials, would love to see some type of free recycling program put into place.

My Rating: Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down

Science in a Box for Kids

Details:  Groovy Lab in a Box is a subscription service, great for children ages 8 and up.  It focuses on young STEM scientists giving them fun, hands on projects with engineering design challenges.  Each box comes with a Lab Notebook where they read and learn and experiment about the month's theme/ topic.  Groovy Lab Box teaches or rather helps reinforce investigating, brainstorming, planning, building, testing, and redesigning scientific projects.  Going with the STEMist box program your young scientists gain access to our online learning program Beyond in a Box.  Which gives deeper more detailed ideas, suggestions and fun online learning opportunities for each month's theme/ topic.  Topics change each month!

Disclaimer:  I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

My Review: As a home school teacher of a very active, creative, soon to be Second Grader, I am always looking for fun, creative, thinking out side the box ideas for him to learn science topics and skills.  When I first heard about Groovy Box I just knew this would be a really big hit with my soon to be 8 year old.  I love that you get all the supplies you need within that box.  I love that these are simple, fun, and easy projects that your kids can do, with adult supervision of course, but they can easily be done.  When I first opened the box I was a little over whelmed, I haven't done anything scientific since graduating college a decade ago.  But was pleasantly relieved that I could understand what needed to be done, and how to help my son achieve the results we were hoping for with the experiments.  Our first experiment we did from Groovy box, I chose, so we did the sun paper experiment.  I let both my 7 year old and 4 year old choose the objects that sat on top of the sun paper, so they chose Fisher Price Trio Blocks.  My 7 year old carefully put the paper in the sunlight and helped us keep track of time (it needed to be in the sun for 2-5 minutes).  Then I also let him remove the objects and paper from the sun and finish the rest of the steps by himself.  That was a super easy project.  What he learned is that even though we tried to get away from shadows we couldn't 100%, but that the shadows were just as cool as the image from his toys.

For the second experiment he chose the battery/ electricity experiment.  We needed to strip wires with our finger nails, tape them to a 9 Volt battery, and get them to buzz, then go around the house to see what else conducts electricity, including a plastic bowl of water.  It was really fun to test, but he did not want to write down his discoveries.  Since these 2 experiments weren't actual parts of school, I didn't mind him choosing not to write down everything the Lab book prompts you do, but come school I would actually make him finish his experiment.  Regarding the second experiment my 4 year old wanted to help and enjoy, but quickly found it boring and too much for his little mind and ended up going back to playing with his toys.  From this I can easily see how these projects are for children 8 and older.  Do I wish they had projects preschoolers and kindergartners can do?  Yes, absolutely, but you know what, that's okay I have pinterest for those projects.

Over all I'm very pleased with this product, I can easily see myself getting a year supply of subscriptions so each month my 2nd Grader has fun excited science experiments that Mommy didn't create on the whim.  I highly recommend this company and their STEMist products!

Pros: fun, exciting, creative, great for age appropriate children

Cons: you don't always get to choose what goes in the box

Contest: want a chance to test this product out for yourself?  Check out our facebook page for the details.

My Rating: Thumbs UP

Smart Fab Fabric

Details: Smart Fab is a disposable art and decoration fabric, colorful, durable and easy to work with, endless creative possibilities, and an excellent choice for schools.  Smart fab fabric is super easy to cut, sew, paint, staple, fold and glue.  The colors don't fade, while the fabric is strong but very flexible, and will not fray.  Indoor and outdoor use and most importantly recyclable.  Smart fab rolls are available in 3 sizes and 15 colors: 48"x 40ft, 48"x 120ft, 36"x 600 ft.  Smart fab cut sheets are available in 2 sizes and 3 color variations: 9x12 (for a 45 sheet pack) and a 12x18 (for a 45 sheet pack).

Disclaimer: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

My Review:  Let me tell you, this product had me so impressed just by reading about it.  As a school teacher I'm always looking for creative supplies to use in my classroom, as well as creative tools my students can use for school projects.  I love all the beautifully bright fun colors, perfect for any holiday, event, bulletin board or what have you.  Just by going on to Smart Fab's website they give you project ideas, lesson plans, and how to directions to make some super cute ideas.  For my review, I was given a sample size of Orange, Sky Blue and Dark Pink smart fab rolls.  These sample sizes are the same as what you can buy except the length and width of these sample rolls.  I was also given a free color swatch book, which I just love because let me tell you I'll be keeping it on hand throughout my school year so I can get holiday colored fabric rolls, and sheets for my class.  I'm such a creative person that when I'm given a limited supply of anything super fun, I tend to save it and just not use it, so coming up with a cleaver idea on how to test and use this fabric was actually hard for me...but what I chose I'm very pleased with.  Here is what I have found out: this fabric really doesn't fray, is easy to paint or use markers one (but with colored fabric only specific colors work best), can be sewn.  I love it, and once school starts I'll be able to let you know if my students like it as well, but I'm sure they will.

What I created: I made a bulletin board, using the sky blue smart fab as the background, and some of the orange and pink flowers are smart fab, but not all of them.  I also made 16x20 pin boards for each of my kids for school to use along with fun colored wipe off boards.  Lastly I made simple aprons the kids can wear during messy activities.

Pros: awesome product, great company, claims are true

Cons: none

My Rating: Thumbs UP