Yes, the price is a bit much considering what comes in the box - that's why 4 rather than 5 stars. However, I don't know that I've ever come across guar gum or valerian root powder in my routine shopping or otherwise. So you pay a few extra bucks for convenience - big deal. The kids have an absolute blast and they are loving learning about science with hands on experiments. Bacteria, molds, snot, gag, digestion, blood - what's not to love? We've completed all but two of the experiments and they've all been easy with results as described. We're waiting for our cultures (snot, dog slobber, toilet rim stuff, and a little girl mouth swap) to grow out so we'll have to wait and see on that one. Unlike one of the other reviewers, our prep of the gelatin for the petri dishes went beautifully. Plus, there are enough supplies to do all of the experiments more than once if you are willing to rinse out the balloon and a few other easy things. We all highly recommend.

This was a gift for my 10 year old son. Boys are always into gross things, that's part of my reason for buying. We haven't made any fake snot yet, but I'm sure it will be loads of fun!! It's a fun way to get children into science!!

This is a fun and convenient kit containing some gelatin, sugar, yeast, a balloon, four petri dishes, a magnifying glass, and some red and green food coloring. Also a few pages, perhaps 6, of projects/instructions.
The kids and I are having fun with this, but then I am in education and was a bio major. So that helps.
For this to be really worth it, it would be nice if it came with a few more projects, or perhaps an actual book for the kids to read.

Son is 5 and we had lots of fun putting this together. Good idea to keep track of the original experiment quantities if you want to repeat them down the road. Really simple stuff and probably easy to replicate without the kit, but well organized and convenient. You need access to your kitchen and some heat source. Along with measuring devices.

Scientific Explorer's Disgusting Science - A Kit of the Science Of Revolting ThingsDisgusting Science
The previous reviewer is correct, this price is much higher than elsewhere. I wish I had checked first.
The kit just arrived, and I looked at the contents. I paid twenty dollars for 4 petrie dishes, 1 magnifier, 4 cotton swabs, 1 oz suger, 1 oz baking yeast, 2 oz. gelatin, red and green food coloring, a baloon, a plastic bag, and a booklet. I could pull all the items except the booklet out of my kitchen for nothing. I resent paying a premium price and getting such small returns, all in a box which could have been much smaller.
I will present it, and perhaps write again with the giftee's views on the subject.

I've been shopping for this kit on other sites and none of them even come close to this price. I don't endorse any site but one such site has a title like Discover This. This same kit is almost 40% cheaper.
thanks and good luck

This was a birthday gift for my 10 year old granddaughter. She loves science and all the yukky stuff that goes with it. And she loved this kit; she's having a party so she can share with some of her friends. What a HIT!!

This product was a big hit with my 9 year old nephew and with his 8 year old sister as well, as evidenced by the HUGE issue that SHE didn't get one as well! Skip Barbie for her if this is under next year's tree for the boys on your list - I think this is an adventurous toy that will appeal to both girls and boys.

We have only done one experiment, so I can only tell you what happened there. First of all the gelatin is very hard to set...it took ours a while longer then they said anmd a couple did not really set. We did the experiment where you swipe something gross with a q tip and swirl it into the gel. We did 4 different things. They all DID eventually grow something..but I am unsure as to whether they grew something from being germs or if they grew something from just being nasty old gelatin. Pretty much all the things (mold basically) looked the same. And it WAS gross...my son gagged when he saw it.

Other then that we've not done another thing. It takes a few days to see any results...actually it took us a week and a half.

I'm using this kit in my classroom - the students are having a great time with the experiments. As a teacher, I love the "interesting facts" and the vocabulary. My kids at home want me to get one for them, too. Fun, hands-on learning that grab kids' attention.

I bought this for my grandson and the following is the review I received from my son, his father:

Let me say thanks for the absolutely nasty s**t I had to put my hand into. It was like a bowl of cold snot! Isaac loved every second of every experiment. Lisa will have to give you the rest of the details. Thanks again. Maybe he can do some to (for) you.