In addition to their popular kid’s monthly subscription boxes, KiwiCo also offers their own line of kid-friendly Chemistry Crates that explore the amazing science behind chemical reactions.
There are currently 5 different chemistry-focused crates available: Colorful Chemistry, Fire Lab (reviewed here), Vortex Lab, and Glow Lab (reviewed here), and the crate that I’ll be reviewing today — Crystal Chemistry Garden. Each crate comes complete with all of the materials needed, easy to follow step-by-step instructions, and explanations as to how each of the experiments work. The Fire, Vortex, and Glow Lab Crates are designed for ages 14 and up, as they include “big kid” materials like chemicals and fire-making components. Colorful Chemistry and Crystal Chemistry Garden are appropriate for ages 5+.
Disclosure: I received this box for review purposes. I was not compensated in any way. All opinions are my own. Post may contain affiliate and/or referral links.
Each of the crates are purchased individually, with no subscriptions needed.
This is a review of the Crystal Chemistry Crate, which sells for $24.95.
Coupon: For a limited time, save 25% on any Chemistry Crate with coupon code “CHEMISTRY“!
Let’s check out KiwiCo’s Crystal Chemistry Garden!
Everything was shipped in a cardboard “crate” with a full-color paper sleeve that featured photos of the materials & a full list of its contents.
A peek inside!
A full-color booklet provided all the information and instructions needed to successfully grow our own crystal garden.
The first pages listed all of the materials we’d find in the box.
The pages above provided some fun facts about crystals and where they can be found in nature.
The project was divided into two parts. The first, shown above, involved setting up the base of the garden, assembling the “greenery”, and coloring the garden. Materials included a mess mat, tray, garden base, gloves, felt garden pieces, and 3 bottles of liquid watercolors.
First, we needed to lay out our mess mat and place the tray/garden base on top.
Next, we assembled the tree & bushes by inserting the pieces into their corresponding slots.
We were then ready to arrange the pieces into our garden by pushing the tabs on the bottom into the square holes in the base. The instructions stressed the importance of not letting any of the pieces touch, or the crystals wouldn’t have enough room to grow.
Our grass pieces did end up touching at their ends, but I didn’t think it would be an issue.
Next, it was time to color our garden using the liquid watercolors provided. The bottles were to be squeezed right onto the felt as shown above. Once the felt was fully colored, it was time to move onto the second part…
The next steps involved the actual chemistry part of the project. Materials included a grass mat, bluing solution, 1% ammonia solution, salt, a pipette, stir stick, and beaker.
First, we were to pour the entire bottle of bluing into the beaker.
The bottle of ammonia solution was to be added next.
We then added the packet of salt and stirred the mixture until most of the salt disappeared.
Once fully mixed, we needed to coat the entire garden with the solution until all of it turned blue.
We then set the garden aside and let it sit overnight. In the morning we found…
…crystals!
The bushes/grass hadn’t gotten very crystal-y…
…but the tree was SO pretty! Perfect autumn-inspired “foliage”. 😉
According to the info booklet, the crystals should continue growing over the next few days, so hopefully we’ll see a little more color on those bushes. *fingers crossed* Either way, we’re more than happy with how our tree turned out. 🙂
Despite the current state of those color-less bushes, my girls and I really enjoyed creating our KiwiCo Crystal Chemistry Garden! All of the instructions were straight-forward and easy for my kids (both age 7) to follow. Seeing how quickly our tree “bloomed” overnight was a fun surprise and we’re still holding out hope for the rest of the garden to do the same. 😉 — Remember, for a limited time you can save 25% on ANY Chemistry Crate with coupon code “CHEMISTRY“!
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