Ad – Review Science Mad! Science Kits

Ad – Science Mad! Science Kits offer real experiments for kids. We checked them out and you can discover what we thought in our review here. 

The Science Mad! Science Kits from Trends UK offers kids real scientific equipment and kits with working features designed to encourage the exploration of the natural world. 

We were kindly gifted the two of the Science Mad! sets for an honest review and we asked our Mum in the Know Gemma and her family to check it out. Here is what they thought. 

Plus you can win your own Science Mad! 30MM Telescope – see here. 

Review Science Mad! Science Kits

My kids always gravitate towards STEM toys and to be honest both I and my husband enjoy playing with science toys too. We were therefore couldn’t wait to check out the Science Mad! Kits. Read on for what we thought. 

What Are The Science Mad! Kits? 

Science Mad! Science Kits are a range of science-based toys from Trends UK. The kits are all designed to guide children (and supervising adults) through a series of different fun experiments in the fields of chemistry, physics, electronics and more. 

Each of the experiments are designed to inspire curiosity and drive a passion for science. 

What Science Mad! Science Kits are available? 

The Science Mad! kits are divided into three categories; Outdoor and Adventure with Night Vision Goggles, a Digital Metal Detector, Walkie talies and a range of telescopes; Core Science with a Light Up Globe and a Microscope; and a Crystal Growing Set a Planetarium Star Globe, a Build Your Own Vacuum Cleaner Kit, Circuit Lab, Science Mad Rock Tumbler and the two sets which we were gifted the Chemistry Lab Set and a 5-in-1 Weather Station kit. 

What Age are Science Mad! Science Kits Aimed At? 

Each of the Science Mad! Science Kits are aimed at different ages ranging from 6 years to 10 years and over. 

Review Science Mad! 5-in-1 Weather Station kit. 

The Science Mad! 5-in-1 Weather Station kit is designed to help children measure the change in weather conditions making them a family expert.

The weather station is aimed at children over 6 years old.

What’s In The Science Mad! 5-in-1 Weather Station kit Box? 

The 5-in-1 Weather Station kit contains:

• The Weather station
• 3 x Anemometer cups 
• 1 x Mounting post
• Instruction manual

Playing with The 5-in-1 Weather Station kit.

The Weather Station requires a small amount of assembly on opening as you need to attach the anemometer cups and mounting post. This is really easy to do and the instructions are easy to follow; for the anemometer cups, you simply have to unscrew the cap at the top of the station and slot them in and screw in the mounting post at the bottom if using. 

Once assembled you just need to pop the Weather Station outside on a stable surface and away you go. 

The top of the Weather Station features the three anemometer cups which spin when the wind blows. You can check how fast and the direction the wind is blowing on the gauge underneath. My daughter loved the wind gauge and watched it for some time shouting out the speed every time it changed. 

Below the wind gauge, you will find a rainfall gauge, a small container that catches the rain allows you to measure how much has fallen. 

To the side of the weather station, there is a compass which you can use with the wind gauge so you know which way the weather is blowing. Plus a thermometer detailing the outside temperature in both Celsius or Fahrenheit. 

All the gauges and are really easy to use and my nine year old understood all the readings straight away and decided she would keep track of them all in a notebook so that she can watch them change each day. 

Review Science Mad! Chemistry Set 

The Science Mad! Chemistry Set is designed to be a great starter kit for a young scientist designed to help them understand how different chemical substances behave. 

The chemistry set is aimed at children over 10 years old. 

What is in the Science Mad! Chemistry Set Box? 

The Science Mad! Chemistry Set contains: 

• A Glass spirit burner this requires methylated spirit which is not included for safety reasons)
• A Pair safety glasses
• A 100ml glass beaker
• A 100ml glass conical flask
• A 120mm glass stirring rod
• 100mm glass tubing
• 2 × Cork stoppers
• 2 × Cork stoppers with holes
• Filter papers
• Universal indicator papers
• Plastic funnel
•  Measuring spoon
• Plastic dropping pipette
• 100mm rubber tubing
•  Small scoop
•  Glass test tubes with caps
• A metal test tube holder
• A test tube cleaning brush
• Test tube rack
• Instruction Manual

Plus the set also contains 10 chemicals 

• Ammoumium Chloride 
• Calcium Hydroxide
• Copper (II) Sulphate
• Iron (II) Sulphate
• Limus Blue
• Potassium Iodide
• Sodium Carbonate
• Sodium Hydrogen Sulphate
• Sodium Thiosulphate
• Tartaric Acid

The instruction manual also details the risk factors of these chemicals as some are classed as a safety hazard. 

What Additional Items are Required To use the Science Mad! Chemistry Set. 

For safety reasons, not all the chemicals and items that you will need to perform experiments come in the set. The instruction booklet details the full list of items you will require.

Some of the items you will already have in the house such as a ruler, spoons, a mirror, scissors, a small plate, Tumeric, salt and distilled vinegar etc.

Other items especially on the additional chemical list you may need to buy from a pharmacy such as Citric Acid, Magnesium sulphate (epsom salts) and Hydrogen Peroxide. 

We would recommend that you decide which experiments you which to do and then buy any additional items you need for those particular experiments rather than buying everything at once. 

However, as you the kids are likely to choose the experiments using the spirit burner (who wouldn’t) it might be an idea to buy this at the same time as purchasing the set.  

The Science Mad! Chemistry Set Experiments. 

With a set coming with a box full of chemicals and a spirit burner it should come as no surprise that adult supervision is required at all times when performing Science Mad! Chemistry Set experiments. 

The instruction manual contains a large section on setting up all the equipment and safety which are definitely a must. 

The experiments themselves are divided up into the following different sections :

• Soluble & insoluble substances
• Invisible inks
• Crystal chemistry
• Paper chromatography
• Acids & alkalis
• Chemical reactions of acids & alkalis
• Other chemical reactions
• Heating substances
• Some iodine chemistry
• Some sugar chemistry
• Distinguishing fibres
• Textile dyes

The instruction booklet recommends that you start with chapter one and follow them in order as the easiest ones are first. They also recommend that you read the experiment in full and gather all the equipment you will need first. They also suggest that the children use a record book to keep track of the experiments and their results, which I thought was a great idea. 

We decided to follow the advice of the instruction manual and to start with the Soluble and Insoluble Substances. 

These are all really simple experiments and but as they use the spirit burner the kids still found them exciting. 

The first experiment involves dissolving sodium chloride (salt – which was not included) in water. The salt disappears but you are asked to find out if it is really there? 

To find this out you place salt solution onto a spoon, boil it over the spirit burner until the water has evaporated leaving the white sodium chloride behind. 

With my nine year old slightly under the recommended age, we decided she would dissolve the sodium chloride into the water so that she was still involved, whilst my twelve-year-old son would be the one to heat the solution. They were both really excited when the water disappeared and the sodium chloride was left behind. 

We then moved on to discover the difference between normal tap water and distilled water before turning the sodium chloride that had been dissolved back into crystals which takes some time (it’s still sat in a warm spot) and required some patience from my very impatient kids. 

The experiments take a good amount of time to perform and so we decided to move on to the Invisible Inks for our next chemistry session which the kids suggested we do once a week. 

What we thought about the Science Mad! Science Kits. 

I have been really impressed with the Science Mad! kits.

The weather station is really easy to use and my daughter has really enjoyed checking the wind speed and temperature and has been wishing for rain nightly. It would have been to have a record sheet included but that has been easily remedied with a little notebook that we already had. 

The Chemistry Set has also been a hit been both my son and daughter. Plus as it requires lots of adult supervision, it has proved to be a lovely family activity with both myself and my husband as eager as the kids to try the experiments.

Although you do need to add in lots of additional items and some planning is required than other activities. 

We have had other chemistry sets in the past, although you do need to add in lots of additional items and some planning is required, this is definitely the best one we have tried.  The instructions are very easy to follow and all the tools are of great quality making it have a ‘grown-up’ which has kept my twelve-year-old a lot more engaged than other sets. 

The kids are already looking at some of the other Science Mad! set declaring that they will be on their Christmas lists. 

Where To Buy The Science Mad! Sets? 

The Science Mad! 5 in 1 Weather Station has an RRP of £17.99 and The Science Mad! Chemistry Lab has an RRP of £32.99 and are available to purchase along with the other Science Mad! sets from Amazon here. 

WIN a Science Mad! 30mm Telescope

We have teamed up with Science Mad! to offer one of our readers the chance to win their Science Mad! 30mm Telescope. 

To be in with a chance to win this great prize simply Click Here to visit for details on how to and enter. 

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