SmartLabQPG Lab For Kids, Extreme Secret Formula Lab, Grade 5-12

My 9 year old was able to open up and start using right away---very fun! Many experiments to do but he, of course, quickly tried and successfully made the volcano explosion--not messy, just do in sink or on a cookie tray. Not necessary to make the cabbage colored water either if you don't have any of cabbage on hand---still fun to watch all the cool foam and bubbles!

This science lab kit is a big hit at my house! So far, the Daddy/Daughter team have created 2 glow in the dark substances and carried out 2 other experiments. And there's still a bunch of other projects left to do. The kit has been easy for my daughter to grasp, but still challenged her thinking and taught her things about science she could only learn being hands-on. My husband said it kept him interested too. They are enjoying these projects together... Win, Win!!

This is a good addition for a home that already does chemistry experiments and already has ingredients (baking soda, vinegar, cornstarch, etc.). The set includes only an instruction book (aka a recipe book for the chemistry experiments) and some very, very cheap and flimsy beakers and flasks. The quality is very low. With that said, my 7-year-old has always loved science and enjoyed making potions and formulas. I knew that he would love to have the beakers, flasks, scoop/stirrer, and funnel. Oh, and what kid wouldn't like glow powder? That's why I ordered the set. The quality was even cheaper than I expected, but I knew ahead of time what was included in the kit, so I wasn't shocked that there were no ingredients. We had lots of ingredients on hand and ordered this for the containers, so my child was pleased with it. He has spent 5 or more hours over the past two days playing with these containers and mixing up endless batches of mixtures. He is loving it. So, the three stars I give are for the fact that the containers make him feel like a real chemist. I deduct two stars for the super cheap quality of the test tube stand and the containers.

My kids had some fun with this, but it seems to be lacking. There just weren't enough ingredients to do everything we wanted to. They pretty much used it to make rock candy and the glow powder wasn't enough to do anything but produce a super faint glow. We combined this with other science kits and my kids use the equipment from this all the time. 4 Stars because the kids really like using it.

Ordered for my 10 year olds birthday. Even the 13 year old is joining in the fun. The "flasks" and "beakers" in the kit are plastic but perfectly usable. The stand is not the greatest and hard to keep upright so we aren't using it. Still a lot of fun.