Science kit for preschool and kindergarten children (Ages 4+)

My daughter loved this science kit! She was only 3 and a half when she received it as a Christmas gift from her father; however, with parental assistance even a child a little younger than the manufacturer's recommended age range (4+) can enjoy mixing the ingredients, watching the fizzing foaming reactions, and "testing" common household liquids to determine their acidity level.

My husband, a high-energy physicist, purchased Fizzy Foamy Science as a Christmas gift for our then 3-year-old daughter. Given that she was younger than the manufacturer's recommended age, I was rather skeptical about my husband's choice of gift. However, he assured me that our daughter would enjoy mixing the ingredients and watching the reactions even if she was a little too young to understand the science concepts.

He was, of course, entirely correct. In fact, she loved the first experiment (mixing a citric acid solution with baking soda) so much that we ended up "testing" every liquid we could find in our kitchen to determine its level of acidity based on the amount of foam produced when we added a tablespoon of baking soda. I was surprised to learn that white vinegar is more acidic than malt and red wine vinegar!

Try testing the following with your child:

• Milk
• Fruit Juice (Orange, Lemon, and/or Pineapple)
• Cooking wine (we used Sake)
• Any type of cola
• Soapy water

My daughter wasn't old enough to journal her observations, so she instructed me to record our findings and report the results to Dad.

The kit is very simplistic. The contents can be easily reproduced (or refilled) with a quick trip to the grocery store. However, the added value of this product is (1) the activity guide, which is written in age appropriate language and format, and (2) the convenience of having all of the "chemicals" (citric acid, baking soda, color tablets, yeast, etc.) packaged together with all the necessary mixing and measuring equipment. As a working mom, it meant that I didn't have to spend my precious time driving to the store, shopping for materials, assembling the mixing equipment or researching age appropriate science lessons for my preschooler.

Please bear in mind before purchasing this kit that for its very reasonable price you will not be receiving high quality optics (the magnifier is a cloudy piece of plastic) or high quality plastic and glassware for mixing and measuring. You are, instead, receiving quality, age-appropriate science instruction (the activity guide) from UC Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science. And, quite frankly, based on my daughter's reaction to this kit, it was worth every penny.