Category: Products & Services (Page 19 of 24)

Scientific Explorer is a company that makes science and cosmetic kids aimed to children. I have so far bought 3 of their kits: the Spa Science Chemistry Kit, the Perfumery kit and the Mind Blowing Science Kit for Young Scientists. I’ve been all in all happy with the kits, though a little bit concerned that they are expensive for what they offer – in particular because so many of the ingredients they come with are things you have at home anyway. For example the Spa Science kit comes with oatmeal and baking soda. That said, some of the ingredients they come with (e.g. the plastic vials in Perfumery or the red cabbage juice powder in Mind Blowing Science) are not so easy to otherwise obtain – or you would have to buy them in such large quantities that it’d end up being more expensive.
My gripe with Scientific Explorer is that while the contents of each kit is printed on the back of the box, you can’t find it anywhere else. For example, I was thinking of making sugar polish with the girls – I think Mika might actually like that – but all the recipes I’ve found online (e.g. these ones) require the purchase of different oils. I’m sure that when I added up the price of each one, the end result would be quite expensive. So I’m thinking I could get Scientific Explorer’s Sugar Polish for Your Body Make It Yourself Spa Kit, but I’d like to know what comes with the kit. Does it contain small portions of all those oils? Or does it just include sugar and some scent/essential oil? I’m worried because while the recipes I’ve found for salt rubs on the internet (e.g. these ones) also contain a number of oils, the recipes for salt rubs in the Spa kit consisted basically of mixing coarse salt with an essential oil. I don’t need a kit (in particular a $20 kit) to do that.
Some of the kits, like the Spa Science and Perfumery ones, are available at local stores like Target – so I can go and look at the boxes. But others, such as the Sugar Polish one mentioned above, are only available online. And while it’s sold by tons of places – none of them have a list of the contents.
So, in my next post I will post a list of the ingredients in the Spa Science kit (the ingredients in the perfumery kit are mentioned in my review of the kit).

When I have a reason to spend so much $$
Sababa / Front Porch Bookshelf Valley of the Pharaohs

I got Highlights High Five magazine for my 4-year old as a Christmas present (I also got Highlights magazine for my 7-year old, but she hasn’t shown any interest in it). She loves it! As soon as it arrives we have to do the different activities: read the stories, find the hidden items, do the matching-game, etc. The only problem is that we go through the magazine fairly quickly – that said, we still haven’t done any of the crafts.
It’s nice to have one more thing to do with my little girl. If you only my other little girl was interested in *something* we could do together (she already grew tired of the soap making & lotion making).

Well, I did end up going to Michael’s yesterday afternoon and buying the Cool Kids Soap Kit. At a about $10, I couldn’t resist. (Note that the kit is priced about $20 – but there are usually 40% off coupons on Michael’s ads, so you can get them for about $12, cheaper than online and no need to pay for shipping).
The kit comes with a block of transparent soap, a block of white soap, a small bottle of scent (Mika doesn’t really like it), three dies (blue, red & yellow), one plastic mold for 6 soaps (the ones pictured on the box), a loaf of daisy soaps and a loaf mold so you can surround those daisies with clear soap and then cut it into slices.
What the kit DOES NOT CONTAIN is any type of clear instructions. There is one badly photocopied page, that tells you how to melt the soap and how to make the daisy loaf. There are no real instructions on how to make the soap bars, however. Basically what it says is to melt the soap, add scent & color and pour into the mold – but that will not leave you with the two color soaps the box depicts. To do that, melt 2 squares of soap (either white or transparent), it takes about 10-15 seconds in the microwave. Add a couple of drops of scent and color, and then *very carefully* pour into the recess of the mold where the protruding figure is. If you spill some outside the figure, let it harden a little and then carefully cut the excess with the side of a teaspoon. Spray a little bit of rubbing alcohol over the figure (to prevent air pockets and to help it adhere to the rest of the soap). Once the figure has hardened, then melt 5 squares of soap, scent and color it, and pour it into the mold on top of the figure. Wait about 30′ for the soap to harden before taken it out. To do so, press on the mold evenly and carefully.
This is all based on the instructions for the Life of the Party Soap Designs Kit that I bought before – and that worked pretty well for the soap I made yesterday.
What I don’t know is how to make the transparent soap be dual color as the box shows some of the soap bars being. Perhaps you add the coloring to the soap solution, but don’t mix it in? I may try it in a future soap.
In any case, Mika and I had fun making two bars of soap this morning. We’ll unmold them and take pictures of them when she comes home from school. The only problem is that it doesn’t take long to make a bar of soap, so it’s not an activity we can do for a long period of time. Of course, if it was too long, she’d get bored as well. So I need to find some activities that last longer but not too long. Any suggestions?