Tinker Box from Kiwi Krate: Review and savings code

FYI: before reading this post...please know that I was not asked to write a review of the product, or paid for this opinion of it. We simply enjoyed it, and want you to know it exists. We didn't until recently-and it would have been nice to know! We actually procured the kit while they had a free trial offer going. Since that has ended, I wanted to share with you a link at the bottom of the post, which you can click that will get you $10 off your first order!  Plus it helps us-meaning we get a $10 credit for every purchase made using our link.  Then you yourself can sign up and receive the same bonuses!  It's a win-win deal!  

 

I am always on the look out for fun activities to add to our regular school work-especially projects relating to science or STEM activities. So when I noticed that Kiwi Crate [via the Krazy Coupon Lady site) was hosting a freebie trial (well, I paid for shipping) I jumped on it. Glad I did too-because I believe I was one of the last ones to secure a kit before they ran out.

They had really quick shipping, so within a week my son received his surprise package. "Surprise" because his loving mother chose to not tell him about it.  Anyway-back to the Tinker Crate.

                             
I assumed it was going to be one of those listed on the site since no other kits were mentioned, but they actually sent the Fiber Optic Stars project.  After he was over the initial shock of getting something cool in the mail, he dove in. But not before I begged him to wait until I grabbed my camera first. You know, once a scrapbooker/blogger, always one. Of course I had to document this "unboxing reveal" before it was spread all over the place. He even got a kick out of that part.

Anyhoo-the neat thing about this (I chose the 9-16+ Tinker Crate for him) is that it provides all the necessary goodies to complete the listed projects.  They also have an additional booklet called the Tinker Zine, noting some fun experiments too, along with some info about the said subject.

The instructions came on a large fold out sheet with clear steps to follow.  It was not overly difficult and the results were really impressive.  I am going to pick up another sheet of foam board, so my son can make all the constellations highlighted in the kit (it came with two boards); and we may even try to create a few of the others ones not mentioned.

He really enjoyed this activity and I have to admit-it is awesome looking when you light it up in a dark room.  I really think this will help him recognize some of the constellations without much effort too. And that is always a plus. And for extra learning fun, they also have videos relating to the kits on their site.

As for the cost-the site currently lists them as $19.95 per month [I believe this is the one where you don't have to prepay but you will be charged every time one ships], the others are prepay first: $60 for a 3 month sub, $110 for 6 months, $205 for the year. The shipping is included for the subscriptions, but it looks like individual purchases of a featured crate has a fee to ship. As for us, we decided to suspend the subscription right now, simply because it is not in our budget. Altho, we can re-activate that at any time. I highly recommend you go through their site to see if this is something your family would enjoy and can afford. And don't forget to use the link below to get $10 off your first order.

Use my code to get $10 off your first kit  (any level) 

Some science going on

So, if you are a follower of my Scrapbook and Lapbook blog and my What's in the Box? blog-then you have been seeing some of my posts regarding the notebooking technique for the kids' studies.  Today, for your viewing pleasure is my display of the Science notebook we have been (started this at module 7) working on.  Haven't gotten very far, but already it is coming to gether.  The idea is to put stuff in there that you want the student to remember, have access to and to highlight from their studies.

So here ya go-take your notebook (ya know the ones that are either mable colored covered, or in this case psychodelic) and put your label on (I just watched a tutorial on how to alter and snaz up your notebooks, so this one will under go a transformation this weekend), and then I put one of those stick on tabs on the section that starts the module).

 Front page of Module section-just copied off an illustration of the DNA stand-I will pull free printable sheets from the internet once I get my act together..to add to her notebook as we go, but this at least gets us started.

Module 7 has its fair share of vocab-so I made these layered flap mini-booklets, so that she can write the definition under the part that has the label (except Genetics had to go on the front, oops).  Then each mini-book gets glued into the first few pages of that module's section-but wait to glue until the child has written the info-too hard to do it whilst in the book.

There is the pic explaining cellular mitosis, and then today-we did a microscope activity where we looked at 2 slides showing different stages of it.  So my teen drew what she saw (each of the four stages for the plant and animal cells), and we just folded the worksheet up to fold into a mini-book-that is easy to fold out to examine.  This is an awesome way to actually utilize those worksheets/lab sheets they work on!  She glued a scrap piece of construction paper to the top to give it more stability and labeled it.  Then the back side of the worksheet (1/4 of it) is glued down to the page. Which in this case is the top right-hand corner section.

So you fold it into fourths, glue the cover on the side that shows, and when you open it like your typical book, the first section is the backside, but then you pull it down to show the worksheet's details!  Yeah.  [oh you have to fold and/or refold it, to make it open right, depending on which way you want the booklet to go.]

The budding scientist [microscope is from Sonlight-love it] and her lab assistant!

Instant Challenge-Invent Aircraft

Newest Challenge-create an airplane using pipe cleaners, a toothpick, mailing labels, sheet of paper and an envelope.  The team was the boy and his daddy today.  They worked rather well together and so I gave them 20 out of 20 for their score on teamwork, they used everything but the envie-so I gave them 28/30 for creativity, as it was rather nice indeed.  Then it flew for 4 seconds, after we moved to the family room to launch b/cuz the kitchen had too many obstacles to keep it from where it needed to go.  So that was 4 sec. X 3 pts to give them 12. Total points earned:  60.  Not bad!  Way to go Boyz!

You can find Michelle over on her new blog addy at: Delighful Learning. Join these challenges when you can-they are quite fun!

Weekly Challenge : Leaning Tower

So my fellow TOS mate is hosting this awesome project.  You simply download the instructions, collect the materials needed and set the kids up with the info and time constraints to produce whatever it is they have to create that week.

We're hopping in here with the Leaning Tower Challenge.  You can go Delightful Learning for more info.

Here is what they came up with:  since this was their first challenge-they were freaking out about the time limits-it sure flies when you are trying to create something!

Cleo was checking out things before they even knew what I was up to.

The supply "table"  uh hem, aka the stool.

Planning. Notice the "supervisor" cat.

Executing. She's there still, I got a bit of her in this shot.

Results-75 points.  I didn't give them a ton for creativity-they used only

one toothpick, and they didn't get full points for working as a team...

so hopefully, next time they will do better in those departments.

They did get a lot of points for distance up the wall and out from the square tho!

So, not a bad start to our challenges career.  Thanks to Michelle for hosting this great activity!

**UPDATE:
well since I now see the square was suppose to be on the wall-they were father out and should get 12 more points so that takes it to 87 total, but then I feel bad because perhaps I was too stringent on the creativity part-so I am adding another 12 for that-bringing them up to 99.  That is better!

Old Timey Activity for modern needs

For a part of a review project, we had to make our own laundry detergent.

So with instructions in hand, an empty 1 gallon water jug, a pan, spoon , a funnel and some H2O-we were all set to give this a whirl.

It took only a few minutes to make the goo, and then all we were required to do, was to give it a good swirl as it cooled (every 20 minutes or so) and we were done! It was a fun activity for all of us, and especially the boy!

The Laundry Kit (trial size) from Virginia Soaps and Scents, made about a half gallon of liquid detergent. I found that I have to shake it up a bit before using-so the water jug with a lid-is a very good storage unit for this. I have used up at least 1/2 of it so far, and am pleased with the results. You can read the whole review, over on my TOS Review blog.