Seths Laboratory - Kidz labs - 4m - Green Science- Soda Can Robug from The Toadstool: Review plus competition

 Its no secret that weve been going a little science mad recently, since Seth seems so interested in it we have fully embraced the transformation of his bedroom into his very own lab. Rather than an experiment today we are mad scientists and teamed up to create a Robug that we could use to take care of all our evil doing. The Kidz labs- Green Science- Soda Can Robug at first glance looks like a very interesting kit and we couldn't wait to start building.

All you need to add that isnt provided is 2x AAA batteries and a drinks can. Firstly (and very important) in no way do i endorse the can i used. We don't drink soft drinks and don't think that any children should drink this so the can was taken from our neighbours recycling. I did debate wrapping the can in tape but i wasn't sure if it would affect the vibrating once finished. That said, i can continue haha.

What i loved about this from the get go was that i had Seth's full concentration. I love most toys but things like the Green Science range have Seth a lot more interested than an actual toy. There is an end result from what we are doing and for Seth's age group it keeps them motivated.

 If like Seth, your child is in to tinkering then these kits are perfect. The fact that Seth got to use an electric screwdriver was really exciting and as the pieces were put together you could see that Seth really felt like he was accomplishing something which was fantastic. Despite Seth's limited muscle movement on his hands he didn't need much help building this, all he needed me for is to hold the screws in place while he tightened them, again only adding to his confidence.

 When we opened the box (even though there's not a huge amount of parts), Seth assumed that the build was going to take us some time but within 15 minutes the Robug was starting to take shape. Seth being the impatient child that he is (aren't they all), kept asking "is it time to put the can in yet?"

 Eventually it was that time. Seth was really chuffed with his creation and what he had achieved but we felt like it was missing a little something so we went looking through the boys craft box and found some googly eyes. Our Robug, created to take care of our evil doings ended up looking far to cute for any of that sort of business...

And the other robots didn't like that at all!

Building our own Soda can robot was a lot of fun and Seth said that he wished he had other things to create so watch this space. It wasn't until after we had built this and i had written the review that i noticed the price. I expected the price to be closer to the £20 mark so was pleasantly surprise. At £9.99 it really is a must for keeping your tinkering child entertained.

The green Science Robug can be purchased from thetoadstool.co.uk along with other great kits from the Green Science range.

Competition time:

As part of this review The toadstool are giving two lucky winners the chance to win this kit or a Green Science kit of their choice. So be sure to enter to get your hands on one of these great kits

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Seth's Laboratory - Liquid layers / Testing Density

Its been one of those lazy sorts of weekends, Mrs M  was shattered when she got in from work on Friday night and we pretty much just vegged out. Not a lot has changed since then and Ive loved every minute of it, its been a lovely change. We have done a few little things, visiting Mrs M's sister and going to see her nan but apart from that its just been us playing with Opeie and keeping nice and warm in the house. We haven't even tidied the house much which really isn't like us. Its nice every now and again to have a weekend like this.

Seth hasn't been with us this weekend and as usual we really missed him and couldn't wait for him to get home this evening. We wanted to make the most of the time before he went to bed this evening so we set up a little science experiment to keep the boys entertained and get them thinking.

For this experiment we needed:

• A tall glass or Jar
• Water
• Cooking Oil
• Treacle
• Food colouring
• Selection of small items

  

Seth's and Opeie suited up and took a moment to go over the directions, safety procedures and where the exits where in case of emergency. Treacle is very dangerous don't you know!

Using three little pieces of tape we evenly sectioned off three spaces for the liquids to go so that it would be easy for the boys to know exactly how much they should pour in. First the water, followed by a few drops of food colouring (Seth chose blue but i think a red would have worked better as we were using black treacle).

After giving the mixture a little stir we added the cooking oil up to the next line. The boys were instantly hooked when they realised the liquids had separated and they couldn't wait to get the treacle in to see what was going to happen.

Next up the treacle, we had black treacle which i thought would have worked out better but we should have used light treacle as it turned the bottom of the jar into a bottomless abyss swallowing up everything we dropped in later in the experiment. The concoction looked great and the boys were really getting into the experiment.

The liquids were complete so then it was time to make use of the selection of small items. We had had a good rummage around the house looking for bits and bobs. I found lots of them in our messy draw (well we all have at least one).

 The boys couldn't wait to start dropping things into the mixture, these included Pasta, Lego (of course), coin, chalk, almond, nail, paper clip and a grape, Seth opted for a bogey but we swayed him away from that on, god knows what would have been next. Before dropping in each item we had a discussion about what we thought was going to happen and Seth came out with some interesting ideas and views.

One of our items was a chunk of lime, Seth's hypothesis was that if we dropped it in skin side down it would float at the top on the oil and if we dropped it skin side up it would sink down to the water, so we chopped the chunk in two and started our investigation. It was great how involved the boys were getting and i love hearing Seth's ideas. 

 The experiment took us about an hour with all of the discussions in between, Mrs M pointed out that we should have made all the things we we're dropping in roughly the same size to make it more accurate but it all went well and the boys really enjoyed it. the big discussion was whether the paper clip (that was coated in plastic) would have had a different outcome without the coating, but we'll save that for another day.

All our findings were documented and can be stored away for future experiments. I'm loving all the science that's going on in the house at the moment and Seth has been getting really excited at whats going to be next so stay tuned for our next visit to Seth's Laboratory.

So how does this work?

When liquids do not mix they will seperate and the most dense of them will be at the bottom of the container used. when you drop an object in to the mixture it will only sink until it has reached a liquid that is denser than they are. The size of a liquids molecules is what decides its density. The treacle has the largest molecules and they are packed together tight making it the most dense of the three. Water molecules are small but close together so it sits between the two and Oil is the least dense despite having large molecules as they are far apart.

"A scientist in his laboratory is not a mere technician: he is also a child confronting natural phenomena that impress him as though they were fairy tales."

The past few weeks have been hectic, were usually so organised around Christmas time but because of the holiday late in the year by the time we got back we had loads to do, plus we've been re-tiling the kitchen and painting the house. If you are a regular reader you'll know that for the past 2 weeks we've dropped off the radar a little. Christmas has passed now, Mrs M is back at work and I've got some serious catching up to do.

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about Seth's Christmas list and how he hadn't asked for anything for himself but wanted Santa to give his presents to homeless children. It was so sweet of him and  the letter will be cherished. Well we made some donations and helped out at the local food bank which we will continue to do. Although Seth's jesture was truly amazing it did leave us in the position of not knowing what to get him. 

Myself and Mrs M had a chat one night and she came up with a great idea which we put into action straight away. Seth loves anything science, he could happily sit all day doing experiments and mixing chemicals (safe ones of course), so we thought it would be a really nice surprise on Christmas morning to wake up to his very own laboratory. 

We had so much fun organising things without him knowing and even managed to paint him a huge blackboard using chalkboard paint on his wall and kept it hidden a whole week before Christmas. It was touch and go a few times when we though he might rumble us but it all worked out and was kept hidden until the big day.

We found some great science things for gifts that we knew would go great in his lab and we were both really excited about setting things up while he was asleep waiting for Santa's arrival. Our Christmas Day was on Boxing Day due to Seth not being with us on Christmas morning so on Christmas morning while most people were opening their gifts we were putting the finishing touches on Seth's big surprise. A few nights back a light bulb went off in my head and I though 'I wonder if there is an 'Se' on the periodic table?' I was about 75% sure there was a 'Th' and thought it would be great to use them on the design. Luckily I was right and selenium was right up there with Thorium, it was obviously meant to be. 

On Christmas night we went to a party at Laura's folks and we took our good friend Chris with us which worked out great as he was there to give me a hand when we got home moving Seth's furniture out while he was sleeping. I had been stressing that we wouldn't get away with it as there was a huge unit to move out but we were surprisingly quiet moving it. We spent the next hour setting it up with beakers full of colourful liquids and various science equipment.

Bless Seth, when he woke up in the morning he wasn't sure what it was in the dark but after waking us up we followed him in and let some light into the room. He was a very excited boy and has been sitting at his desk ever since looking quite chuffed with himself. Theres no shortage of chemicals to mix and specimens to examine, its a mini scientists dream come true and Seth has been making the most of it.

In the past few days we have built a windmill (although we are yet to get it to work), had an Alchemy session (okay maybe that's a little OTT were no where near the discovery of the elixir of life just yet, we'll just call it chemical mixing) and Seth and Mrs M made their own bouncy balls (very clever). We've got plenty of experiments lined up for over the holiday and now we have the space and materials for Seth to let his scientific mind run wild.

The whole thing including the desk and fittings cost under £100 which was great and the look on Seths face was priceless. Its so important to get involved with the things that your children are interested in and although for Seth this is a great present its also a great way for us to spend even more quality time as a family.

Of course we couldn't leave little Opeie out, what could we have done for him to wake up to on his Christmas morning? Click here to find out.