Hello STEM Sparkers! It's actually been below freezing at STEM Spark headquarters, and may I dare say almost like a real winter? Okay, it's probably more like a real fall. And I can only image our Mid-West friends laughing and shaking their heads at us Phoenicians and our desire to play with snow, even if that snow is human-made from the Frozen Science kit!
Will your kids like it and/or will you hate it?
I saw the Frozen Science kit on sale at Target, and I thought since we don't get any snow in Phoenix, that it would be fun for Jack and I to make snow with this kit. I put the kit in the closet and forgot about it until we had our godson over (so that was 6 months!). I was like I should entertain the kids with some science, and I pulled the kit out from the closet. I started making the slush from the kit. Both kids really like slime, and I thought the slush would be the closet thing to slime to get them interested in the kit. However, they didn't seem to care what I was doing. It wasn't until the 10th time I asked, hey do you want to touch this slush, it's like slime, that they came over and started playing with the slush. Then they asked if they could make slush too? I said not only could they make slush, but they also could make snow and ice! So we ended up making all three items. It was fun. But it was also really messy and required vacuuming and moping afterwards; there was fake snow everywhere on the floor! So the kids liked Frozen Science, and I varied between loving it and hating it.
How long will it keep them entertained?
So I mentioned at first they had no interest, but once the Frozen Science kit had their attention, they played with the fake stuff for a half hour! I was the one who was like, I'm done! I need to rest! They wore me out with the science.
Are they a good value?
I got the Frozen Science kit on sale at Target for under $10, so yeah, it was a good value.
Ninja-like STEM Skills
The human-made snow, slush and ice are made from water and sodium polyacrylate. It was fun using the terms sodium polyacylate and polymer with the 4 year old and 6 year old, but admittedly the terms were a little over the kids' heads. We did have a fun discussion about real snow-- Jack liked repeating that salt melts ice, and that lava melts ice too (thanks weird Lego YouTube video for that, haha). For your own reference, check out sodium polyacrlate and fake snow here.
Originally I was going to score this Frozen Science kit a 2 or 3 (out of 5 stars), but once the kids got interested in the slush and kept asking to make more, the kit was able to grab a 4 from me. I mean, science for under $10 that keeps them entertained for more than a half hour deserves a high rating!
And I just happened to buy two of these kits, and it just happens that you have a chance to win the other kit! Enter using the Rafflecopter below (or here). US residents only, please. Of course, if you are dealing with the real stuff (real snow that is), then I totally understand if you don't want to enter. Best of luck to those who want some fake snow! And happy STEM-ing as always!