Are any of these Science Toys worth the money you pay for them?

[Rhubarb]

Looking for a science toy for dd for Christmas, but they all seem to be for 8+ and she's only 6. Also, I know these science toys all sound very good but once you get them home you discover that your "Bug World" that you paid £15 for consists of a plastic tub, bit of soil, grass seeds and a few dried up eggs.

So what can I get her for around a tenner that will spark her imagination and be worth the money?

Well?

Brain Box is good, making electrical circuits. Ds uses under much supervision at almost 4. Would be excellent for a 6 year old.

£33 though! It does look brill but way out of our budget I'm afraid!

Sorry, I should have added that our budget is £10-£15.

whats she actually into?

I'd make up my own kit based on her sciency interests

say a (half) decent magnifying glass, a cheapo insect identification book, and a jam jar.

Do you have a shop called The Natural World near you? We have one in Bristol and it is an absolute Aladdin's cave of goodies for the scientific child. See website here

Well, last year someone got her one of those sea monster kits, only the eggs never hatched and she was very disappointed! I think she would be really interested in that. She is also learning about circuits at school. She asks lots of questions about how things work and so on so I thought we could encourage this a little bit.

OK this is £20 and for ages 7 plus. We are getting nearer.....

You could get her a cheap microscope thingy like this

My dad had a proper microscope and my brother and I played with it endlessly as children. Its only £4.99 too so you could maybe get her the jam jar, insect book and mag glass too (love that idea)

That site is great - ds had a weather station similar to this for his 8th bday. Also the fibre optic lights are funky !

That's quite a good site DG! A bit expensive for some of the things though. I love that they are charging £10.99 for an 'Owl Puke' kit! We were looking for owl puke only the other day! I have happy memories as a kid of dissolving it in water and pulling the bones out!

Hawkins Bazaar have loads of scince type things (including Owl Puke!) -4 pages on the link.

Sorry -link didn't go to Science stuff -click on "discover" on list on left of page

It is a shame you can't get to a shop, but I see their only store oop north is in Newcastle (not counting Scotland). Where to find them

DS1 (7) got this as a "party bag" present (I suspect it was heavily discounted version though!) and it's great. No stuff but a book plus a set of experiment cards you can do with stuff around the house. Like "grow your pwn fungi" with a slice of bread and a plastic bag! The book part has a whole host of experiments too.

another
smaller version

Mud Clock

There are some brilliant ideas on those sites! I'll show dh when he comes back!

In sainsburys at the mo they have mini brainbox science kits for £1.25. They have pressure, sound and light from 6 up.
May just be at mylocal london store though

33 quid - bloomin eck!

We got a small one for $12 which is around 5 quid.

Crystal growing kit?
Potato clock (brilliant - I had one for a year on my desk when I was a real person and had a job - everyone loved it).

but are you really bothered about the 8+ bit?
if you are going to be around when she is doing the kit, she will be able to manage, won't she?

my DD is getting a 'kitchen science' kit from MIL and she will be 5 this birthday. Some of it will go over her head, and she can't read any of the instructions, but I reckon she will LOVE making a volcano, making 'plastic' out of milk, etc.

ths kit MIL has bought says 8+ on it, but I saw a virtually identical one marked 6+.

There are fun-looking ones for making bouncy balls which say 4+, 5+ or 7+ depending where you look!