Suitable for 6-10 year olds. Examine magnetic fields patterns using iron filings.

This kit includes the following items:

• ceramic horseshoe and bar magnets
• block magnet
• six assorted ceramic magnets
• neodymium magnet
• 7" x 11" viewing case
• activity booklet

The item that makes this kit unique is the viewing case, filled with iron filings and a colored glitter suspended in a liquid. Bring any of the magnets near the plastic cover and the iron filings will indeed line up with the field of the magnet. You may have seen pictures of iron filings lining up along magnetic fields in your physics book in high school It takes quite some effort to get an effect that good, and this kit does not come close to those professional results. Nevertheless, with some patience you can get a reasonable effect. We practised for for some minutes and were able to produce good results. For example, we can see the difference in the iron filing patterns when two north poles are brought together compared to the case when a north pole meets a south pole.

We tried this kit with a group of 5-7 year olds and it was a favorite - on a table of magnets they spent a lot of time experimenting with the filings. There is a lot of mileage in using the different magnets supplied. The viewer seems to work best when the magnets are in motion, you can start to see the different pole patterns, and the kids seem to really enjoy this aspect.

In addition the supplied neodymium magnet demonstrates why this particular material is special. You can see that it is much easier to attract the filing with magnet, even when holding it some distance above the viewer. It's worth pointing this out to your kids and asking them why they think this magnet in particular is so much stronger.

We were impressed with the construction of the viewer - it appears to be very sturdy and expect that it will withstand quite some wear and tear over the years.

For the price this is a great introduction to the concept of magnetic fields for kids.