My daughter has a strong interest in STEM toys/kits that I really want to encourage. One of the things I love about these kits is that she doesn’t realise she’s secretly learning. To her, STEM kits are just some sort of advanced messy play for older kids (which I suppose is part of the attraction).
**This competition has now ended**
We were very kindly sent some Ooze Labs Slime kits and a chemistry station (from Thames & Kosmos), so that Emma could explore her love for science-based toys. One lucky reader can also win two Ooze labs slimes, just scroll to the bottom for how to enter!
The kits were received in exchange for an honest review.
Ooze Labs Chemistry Station
The Ooze Labs Chemistry Station is as exciting as it looks on the box. Jam-packed with fun (and sometimes messy) science experiments, there is enough in this kit to keep your child entertained for multiple hours across multiple days!
My daughter is ten and we’ve been having lots of fun with these experiments, but there are still plenty more for us to do!
When you open the box, you are met with an impressive sight. The kit boasts 20 experiments, so it stands to reason that there would be a lot of kit. It immediately struck me what excellent value for money this chemistry kit is, if I’d bought this as a birthday/Christmas present for my daughter, I’d have been really pleased to be met with its generous contents.
The chemistry station comes with a little booklet that I recommend you read before starting any experiments (it has some handy safety advice that you shouldn’t really skip).
Some of the experiments are written on handy cards that you can display hands-free in the chemistry station while you work, and the rest are inside the booklets. All experiments have full instructions that are easy to read.
Almost all of the experiments are catered for fully by the kit, but some require household items like cooking oil or bicarbonate of soda. The instructions make it very clear what you need before you start each experiment, so there’s no chance of getting half way through before you realise you need to rung to the shop for vinegar!
Oil and water
The first experiment we did involved mixing oil and water. I’d taken it for granted that my daughter would know what happens when the two mix, but as I hadn’t told her before and she hadn’t covered it in school, she did know and was super interested.
The experiments required us to mix the oil and water together, which we did (messily). There was a spill but we have an old-ish wipe-clean table cloth so it didn’t really matter. We mopped it up with a bit of tissue.
Emma was surprised that the oil sat on top of the water.
The experiment called for us to shake the mixture together to see what happened.
Initially my daughter thought it had mixed, but after a few minutes she realised it was beginning to separate again.
The instructions then told us to add washing up liquid to observe what happened.
We then shook the solution again and got a frothy, separating mix.
The experiment instructions discusses why oil floats on top of the water and why it changes again with washing up liquid. The language is easy to understand and Emma found it very interesting.
Colourful chromatography
The chromatography experiment went down well too. We coloured a small ring in water soluble felt-tip pen and dropped water on it. Emma correctly predicted that the colours would run, but I don’t think she anticipated just how beautiful it would look.
Since discovering how lovely the colours look when they run, she is now keen on making lots of art in this same way.
Ooze Labs Slime Kits
We received four different slime kits from Thames & Kosmos, each one had a different element to the slime, which made it a new experiment every time.
Each kit contains everything you need, it even has a little bit of card to create a stand for your test tubes!
Glow in the Dark Slime
The way to make the slime is the same in every kit – add the powder to water, stir, shake, leave it to settle and then shake again.
It’s a really easy method that only takes a few minute.
The glow in the dark slime had a green finish and to get it to glow, it needed to be exposed to UV, so we took our slime out into the sun. After a few minutes in the son, we ran back inside a darkened room to check if we’d done it right.
Thankfully, we’d done it exactly right, and although this picture might not show it well, the results were reasonably impressive.
Sunshine Slime
This slime is white until held in direct sunlight. We took our outside to see what happened.
It turned pink in the sun!
Hyper colour slime
This slime changes colour in heat, so what was originally a blue slime, changes to a green when heated.
The warmer it is, the more green it becomes.
Because the outside of the test tube got warm first, an interesting pattern was formed.
Glitter slime
This slime was really pretty to make, the sparkles were bright and dazzling.
All of the slimes are fine to be played with, but be mindful they start to decompose after a couple of days so I would suggest doing one experiment at a time if you want to savour the slime.
Emma found both the slime experiments and the chemistry lab experiments fun and interesting to complete. I really liked that they encourage an inquisitive mind. I spent time talking to Emma to see what she thought would happen and why.
From a parent’s perspective, I think these kits are great because they introduce science in fun way. They provide the opportunity for children to hypothesise about outcomes based on what they already know, which helps encourage critical thinking – a handy life skill!
These kits are fabulous value for money and make impressive-looking gifts with a huge ‘wow factor’!
Buy the kits:
Win 2 ooze Labs Slime Kits
- Entrants must be over the age of 18 and have a UK postal address.
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- A winner will be selected at random and contact via email.
- The winner will have 28 days to respond and claim the prize, if it has not been claimed within that time frame, AHM reserves the right to draw a new winner at random.
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If you’re interested in other STEM kits, we’ve also reviewed other Thames & Kosmos science kits and Botley the Coding Robot.
They look like great fun my kids would love them fingers crossed
Looks like a lot of fun.
These sound fab – fun and educational!
My eldest would LOVE this- he’d want to do do all the experiments like right now!!!
All the science kits are great, it is fantastic when children can learn as they play
my niece would love this
This would be brilliant to do with my little girl xx
These sound amazing and definitely something my Godson would love.
My daughter absolutely loves these type of things, I was pretty much the same when I was younger, I loved the nickelodeon gak they used to sell
This sounds like a fun experiment for my nieces to do! Hours of fun
these not only look fun but educational too would love ot win for my neiece and nephews
These look like lots of fun to be had
My daughter and her friends would live this! Keeping my fingers crossed ??
My son loves these practical, Science kits. Such a fab prize!
Fab for the summer hols
These look great fun for the kids,
These would be magical for my 2 boys
This looks amazing for spending time with my daughter and having fun while she learns stuff!
What great fun – Makes LEARNING so much easier
These look brilliant, Science should always be fun
my nephew would love this!
The glow in the dark one looks great fun
These look brilliant, my niece and newphew would love me forever ‘;)
they look great fun and educational too, definitely sets children would enjoy
my daughter loves this type of stuff!
they look like they will be lots of fun and educational
looks great fun
We would love this 🙂
these slime kits look awesome, many an hour of fun
I think our grandchildren would be fascinated by these kits 🙂
my girls love slime
My son would enjoy making these sets as more interesting to do
I have no experience of them, but one is never too old to learn.
This looks great – would make a great gift for my nephew.
these look great fun – I remember having a chemistry kit as a kid and never being allowed to play with it because it was so dangerous haha but I would let the kids play with these 😀
These look a great fun way to learn!
My grandkids would love these
Thanks for the great prize and competition. My nephew would love this!
A fabulous kit for older children. Love the sound of Glow in the Dark Slime!
My daughter would love this.
my boys would love to experiment and make slime all at once
I would really enjoy doing this with my 2 children, it looks so much fum
Great, fun and educational.
Oh wow this would be super fun educational why having fun with science