The box is eye catching for kids, but what you actually get in the box is a joke. Included is small envelopes of sugar, yeast, red an green food coloring, and gelatin (all available at your local grocer if not already in your kitchen), a balloon, a few q-tips, and 4 plastic petri dishes. That's it. You'd be much better off saving your money and downloading experiments off the internet or reading ideas in a book. Waaaaaayyyy overpriced and not very much fun. We've had much more fun finding slime recipes and science experiments online. What a waste of $20.00.

after reading some other posts, i thought i'd buy this for my 5-year-old daughter. at the very least, i thought we could grow a few cultures of bacteria and mold from her hands, feet, the sink, etc. i'm a former biology teacher so i thought it would be a fun experiment. well, after following the directions to make the gelatin, the solution still was too watery. we tried it again, doubling the gelatin, and still encountered the same problem. (by the way, one petri dish came cracked) the other "experiments" are a total joke--mash up bread and vinegar in a balloon and squeeze it out on a plate? that's supposed to show you about digestion? mix gelatin, water and a drop of green food coloring to make snot? really, i can't believe some of the other reviews that talk about doing this with their class and learning vocabulary?! the vocabulary i saw was "eeeewwwwwhhh! grooosssss!" and it really wasn't gross. i'm at a loss for how this thing gets so many stars... big waste.

My husband and six year old really enjoy doing these experiments together. This is a decent value for the money. I would suggest that a parents help is the best bet for enjoying this set to the fullest.

We swiped some toes (after running around sockless in rubber boots), toilet water, teeth, the kitchen sink, and left one open to the air for 1/2 an hour. The winner was the toes! Truly gross. It takes about 10 days to get some good cultures going, but we kept a chart and it was VERY educational. The other 'experiments' were just play, but the swabs and cultures in the petri dishes were really worth the money. And there was anough gelatin left to do more experments so we passed the kit on to friends. :)

This toy keeps kids occupied for hours. What did doesn't like to learn about gross things. Depending on the age they will need a little adult supervision.