We’d been looking for a monthly subscription box for a while. When I stumbled upon Letterbox Lab. A monthly science box delivered in the post that includes everything you need. I’m not sure if I ever disclosed this, but 2 years ago I really really wanted to set up a science channel on Youtube with Imogen. It was going to be called Imogen Science. Imogen didn’t want to be on Youtube and we gave up on that idea. However, science has still fascinated her. Then recently Abigail started to do Science at school and couldn’t stop telling me about the Planets. I had a secret surge of excitement knowing that the three of us had an interest that we could share.
Letterbox Lab
Letterbox Lab is a monthly subscription box that offers two levels of science kit to choose from. The Explore Box is aimed at children aged 6 years and older. While the Investigate Box is aimed at children aged 8 years and older. Although there is only 2 years of difference between the kits, I totally understand why they are separated off. The Investigate Box contains all the experiments of the Explore box, but has additional experiments that are more technical, or contain chemicals that need careful handling.
Letterbox Lab – Explore Box
Abigail worked her way through the Explore box, which was themed around colours. The first box contained a well designed instruction sheet / work book and all of the equipment needed to do the experiments. And I mean everything! The kit had safety scissors, pens, a spinning top, Sticky dots, a petri dish, special paper and much more.
In line with the Hidden Rainbow theme Abigail’s first experiment was Incredible Inks, which looked at the way coloured inks are made up. Then she created the Rainbow Glasses, which explains that colours that are in light and how we see colour. Finally she created some Rainbow Spinners. These continued the explanation of colours and how we see them. Her favourite Experiment was Incredible Ink.
Abigail really enjoyed working with the coloured pens and spinners. The simplicity in her experiments made them fun and like a game. Which when it became clear as to what we were doing there was an “ahhhh” moment and the game took a new direction.
Letterbox Lab – Investigate Box
Imogen had the Investigate box to work through, which was themed around Marvellous Mixtures. As I mentioned earlier it contains all the Explore Box experiments plus additional ones suitable for her age. This meant that both kids could work together for the first three, then Abigail stood back and watched for the others.
The Marvellous Mixtures theme continued into the rest of the box. She created a Liquid Rainbow, by layering up coloured liquids. The Brilliant Breathless Balloon was a lot more impressive than I thought it was going to be. I think the reaction of the mixture was a fast as Imogen jumping out of her seat!
Last up was Squirmy Worms. This was an experiment that involved creating two colourless mixtures, then adding one to the other. It took a little bit of time in the preparation for it, but was Imogen’s favourite experiment.
Imogen felt that the Investigate Box was more suitable for her age, even though she enjoyed the experiments that were in the Explore box. Handling the measured chemicals and mixing components, made her feel like a “real” scientist. We had to remind her to use the safety goggles once, but after that she spotted there was a safety checklist in the book.
With both Kits I would recommend that parents are there to help and guide your child through the process. We were given a link to watch videos of the experiments if we had got stuck. Which I’ll own up to watching before hand to prepare myself for any potential questions that arose.
Letterbox Lab Costs
The Explore box costs £8.88 inc P&P
The Investigate box costs £24.56 inc P&P
Each box contains everything that you need to do these experiments. The Explore Box contained everything including safety scissors and pens. The Investigate Box also included safety goggles, multiple safety gloves, a measuring cylinder, pipettes, Miniature plastic bottles, a Large plastic Bottle, measured out chemicals including table salt. The attention to detail is amazing and it has been put together in a very visually engaging way. The work book is brightly coloured and clear to follow, with an overlay of comic book.
If your children have a hint of an interest into science, this is a great way to keep it going. I’m a strong believer that if we can encourage a child curiosity at an early age it will lead them onto great things. They have already asked about the next box!
Letterbox Lab is Launching on April 18th. If you pre order now you will be able to save up to 20% on the subscription prices.
Visit https://www.letterboxlab.com/ for more details
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