Bake Off Lab box

As P enjoys science but being busy working/riding it is hard to find the time to have ideas and collect resources so a box which has everything in it to carry out experiments is really appealing. We tried a Curiosity Box. Each Curiosity Box is packed with hands-on activities and collectable lab kit to help children explore the world around them – and beyond. The topics are curriculum linked and are ideal for children between the ages of 6 and 11. Every experiment is individually wrapped and includes all instructions, guides, ingredients and tools needed to become a budding scientist. The information in each pack is well written and explained for both little and big minds to easily understand. The experiments are fun and intriguing and really make you think about the science behind it all.

We started with the Bake Off Lab box which contains 3 delicious activities.

The first one we tried was making honeycomb. We saw that by adding bicarbonate of soda, it breaks down with heat to release carbon dioxide gas. The gas causes the sugar and syrup mixture froth and bubble. The bubbles become trapped in the mixture and set there!

 P then made a showstopper -using marshamallows and rice krispies to make different structures (P made marshmallows). The powder contains maltodextrin which joins with the fats in melted chocolate to create a powder!  

 

 Finally, she made biscuits - plain, raisin and mystery (we added chocolate) to find out which one would be the best for dipping. Biscuits are basically starch held together by sugar. Dunking melts the sugar leading to a more intense sweetness but also leading to disintegration. At the same time, the starch grains swell which temporarily helps to hold the dissolving biscuit together. We found that chocolate ones were the worst (disintegrated the quickest) and the plain were the best!

 We really enjoyed it and have ordered another one.

They also have 3 sizes of boxes for children aged 7-11 on monthly subscription:

Pico (1 activity) from £6.95pm

Nano (2 activities) from £11.95pm

 Jumbo (3 activities) from £19.95pm

There is also a CuriosiTots Box for younger children aged 4-6.