Science Reviews

My mother-in-law sent this for my son this Christmas and it is such a hit. Definitely a toy for the thinking child. My son is 9 and although I do have to minorly assist him, he is absorbing everything. Products used in the experiments are replaceable with common household items--such a plus for us because once is never enough. This product seems extremely durable, too, with holders for all the tubes, beakers, etc. I did see that the guide was age-inappropriate (i.e. Why does my child need to know that so-and-so was an exotic dancer before coming on the squad?), so I had to give it an overall 4. I hate to do that, but this is a toy.

I bought this toy because I wish to be a DNA analyst/CSI when I grow up. It is alot of fun, and I have learned alot from it so far. I love it! I'm Greg Sanders in training. =D

Do not bother getting this kit. I bought it for my son for Christmas. The first problem was that it was missing the motor and solar panels. Rather key parts. I called and emailed the company. Finally many weeks later I received an email back. Then later a motor and two solar panels. The problem is the motor does run off of just two solar panels. It requires three to generate enough voltage in bright sunlight. I tested the motor with a battery setup and it works. I tested the output of the two solar panels with my voltmeter and they only put out 0.5VDC exactly as they are rated. The manufacturer confirmed this. But the manual has some of the projects using only one solar panel with the motor. No go. Even with two panels it is no go. It takes three panels to run the motor as verified by my own tests. The company confirmed that three panels are needed. I went out and bought another panel so my son would not be totally disappointed. I would not buy this again. Because of this basic flaw in the design, as well as the lack of quality control, I probably won't buy anything from the manufacturer Thames & Kosmos again either. It is really cheap cardboard, styrofoam, badly designed and does not work.

The concept of this game is silly and fun: each player takes the part of an alien and tries to cross through an ocean on an alien land. The game board is a bit confusing at first (there are often several options of which way a player can go, and players are allowed to move both backwards and forwards), but it makes more sense once you've played the game for a few minutes. In order to make it back out of the alien ocean, the player must collect three fuel cells.

The rules of the game are fairly complex and it will help to go over them a couple of times before attempting to play the game, but the diversity of all of the different rules and parts of the game board will surely keep kids interested. They'll want to play it over and over, and they'll learn while they do it. What more can you ask?

One of the very best features of this game is that all of the science trivia questions come with a full explanation in an accompanying book (The Book of Y). Very cool!

I really like the 4th Grade Science Quantum Leappad book. I am 11 years old and I got it with some of my birthday money. It is very fun and very educational. It teaches you about earthquakes, rocks, weather forcasting, plants, animal classification, the food chain, electricity, magnets, and also about important inventions and discoveries. I think this is a very good book for kids about 9 to 12 years that are interested in science. This Quantum Leappad book is awesome!