EARTH SCIENCE / BIOLOGY KITS

Decidedly clever little gizmo reminiscent of our ever popular tornado tube. It consists of a plastic sleeve into which one screws two empty 2-liter soda bottles. Inserted into the connecting tube are clear plastic "straws", one extending toward the bottom of each bottle. Fill one bottle 3/4" full of water, colored if you like, invert the duo, and watch water spew from the top end of the top "straw". It is all because of the vacuum created as the water drains from one bottle to the other and is a great physics demo item. It looks as though the water defies gravity. Instructions/description are on the package.

Yes, we have The Amazing Live Sea Monkey® aquarium kit, just like the ones from the comic books. The (9) piece ocean zoo includes brine shrimp eggs, growth food, water purifier, plus an official plastic feeding spoon, 32-page handbook, life insurance policy, growth guarantee, and the plastic aquarium with built-in magnifiers for viewing your little friends, and a vented cover. We'll pick the aquarium color that best matches your decor. Great gift for those budding young marine biologists. Ages 6+.

Simple, yet clever 1" dia. by 3" long plastic device to demonstrate the vortex effect of a tornado. Partially fill with water one of the two half-gallon size plastic soda bottles which you supply. Screw the bottles into opposite ends of the tube which we supply. Tip so the full bottle is on top and give it a circular starting whirl. Presto! You have a vortex. Call it a tornado if you're a meteorologist, a Charybdis if you're a classicist, or a whirlpool if you're into oceanography. Lots of fun and a fine opportunity to attempt to explain the effects of the earth's rotation on water draining out of a bathtub. The phenomena are related we're told, but good luck!!

If you’d like to, too, we have multiple ways for you: our Go Wild Special is a canister with 1 oz of wildflower seeds in approx (25) varieties chosen to appeal to pollinators and to fill about 150 square feet in USDA zones 3-11, which is pretty much North America; our Here Comes the Sun option has 2.5 oz of sunflower seeds so you can become the food source for birds and baseball players all summer; the Heirloom Apple Tree will grow you a Malus pumila fruiting tree you can harvest a few years down the road; and our Johnny Sequoiaseed option has (7) sequoia tree seeds per packet, along with 1/2 oz of soil, a small bag of pebbles and a vented canister to get them started so that in approx (83) generations, your progeny will have a tree 36 feet in diameter. Better pick a wide spot in the yard for that one.

The budding home scientist and horticulturist will both delight in the ease with which this self-contained soil test kit brings discovery. The kit measures not only ph., but also Nitrogen, Phosphate and Potash content and contains material for 40 tests. Since these are the essential ingredients affecting plant nutrition, we see a science project in the making: experimental plant growth in soils with different amounts of acidity and/or nutrients. From Luster Leaf(tm), the kit is entirely self-contained and includes complete instructions for use and explanations. Be careful, please, the kit does have chemicals and should not be used by young children without supervision.

Triops: way cooler, bigger and more active than sea monkeys. They're dinosaur shrimp, leftovers from some 200 million years ago. Don't eat them; just grow them and enjoy this bizarre & ancient display of nature! In the kit you get a kidney-shaped tank 2-3/8" tall x 8-1/2"x 5-3/4", a very informative instruction booklet, and a packet full of triops eggs and food. In the starter pack/refill pack you get tripos eggs, food, conditioner and directions. Add the eggs to water and watch them go; they'll hatch in a day and reach 1" to 2" or more in a few weeks. Really easy to do, and really cool too.

We’d start with triops, lovely little crustacean-ettes with compound eyes that have been around since Triassic days. You pick the Ghost Triops, see-through honeys, or the larger Gigantic Triops, the biggest of the triops which is gigantic among lesser beasts. In both cases you get eggs, baby and adult food, and a pipette. You add a bright light source, bottled natural spring water and a small tank. They hatch in a day or three, are full grown in a month or so, and have a life-cycle of up to 90 days.  Ages 8+.

Care to grow your own oyster mushrooms and then eat them, too? Yeah, we knew we could lure you in. Made in Michigan, each Oyster Mushroom Growing Kit contains a syringe filled with 5ml of mushroom culture, growing instructions, a growth observation log and a fun fungi search puzzle. We have (2) kinds. You pick: the Blue Oyster Mushrooms or the Pink Oyster Mushrooms. You supply pre-cooked brown rice, a bit of paper bandage tape and either peroxide or isopropyl alcohol. Start your own benevolent, delicious pink or blue oyster cult!

Budding meteorologists will love this Weather Science kit from Green Science. Includes experiments with lightning, static electricity, cloud-making, greenhouse effect, water cycles and acid rain. Comes with thermometers and holders, a balloon, seed tray, pH paper, and sundry plastic instruments. You add a few common household items.

Water, water, everywhere, and lots of it to test. This educational Global Water Quality Experiment Kit from Thames & Kosmos has (8) different experiments, all focused on water filtration and why it’s necessary. Includes a number of small plastic cups, pH strips, a pipette, straw, popsicle stick, labels for the experiments, garden cress seeds, 200g of sand, and a balloon. Made in Germany. Ages 8+. ! WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD–Small Parts. Not for children under 3 yrs.

Find out if your plants are smarter than lab rats with this Green Science® Grow-A-Maze kit. Assemble the plastic parts to build a standing maze and watch your house-plant find its way through to the sun. Billy says it filled his days with botanical joy during the long, locked-down days of the last year.

And you can help budding scientists get a leg up on a green career with these Red-Dot Design award-winning kits from Green Science®. For ages 5+. You pick: the salt-powered robot uses specially designed battery cartridges, and includes a motor, gears, a body ready to assemble and detailed instructions. You add salt, water, teaspoon and screwdriver. Or: the multifunction mini-observatory weather station with terrarium experiments on the greenhouse effect, and devices to measure temps, rainfall, wind speed and direction. Includes a daily weather chart. You add a soda bottle, dirt and plants for the terrarium, and a screwdriver.

This DIY Galileo Thermometer Kit from Heebie Jeebies includes everything your kid needs build a genuine facsimile of a Galileo Thermometer, which is way more interesting than a regular one. Through a series of small experiments, they’ll learn about the science behind temperature and density. Kit includes instructions (duh), jars, a liquid crystal thermometer, glass beads and colored marbles. Ages 8+, or 6+ with help. ! WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD–Small Parts. Not for children under 3 yrs.

This interactive Understanding Coronavirus STEM kit teaches kids how germs spread, and how to prevent them. Includes a lung breathing model, stethoscope, glow-germ lotion, lung volume bag set, stopwatch and more, plus a teacher's guide. Kids will learn about the strengths and weaknesses of our lungs, and how they function. Plus, the glow-germ lotion and included UV light, aka blacklight, will help them understand how pathogens spread. We first offered this kit to help students explore the novel coronavirus as scientists were studying it. But it’s a great kit, period, so we’ve extended its availability. Requires (4) “AA” batteries, which you provide.