After the undeniable success of the first Letterbox Lab box that arrived last month, Mr D was beyond excited when the second one popped through the letterbox as a week or two back. We did do these almost as soon as it arrived, so a couple of weeks ago, but time, as ever, seems to have escaped me and it is only now I find myself with the time to write about it!
Mr D was pretty excited to see a magic wand inside this box, and we soon set about charging it with static – and making feathers dance and the two little characters dance on top of the box.
This was great fun and, whilst I am not convinced they completely understood exactly why rubbing the furry fabric onto the plastic wand created something that made things dance, it does no harm to introduce words, concepts and ideas. It is something visual and something they are engaged in actually doing and they’ll recall and remember it at some point in the future.
We then moved on to doing the ‘Pico in the cage’ trick. This is a trick of the eye sort of thing and the children thought this was fun! I suspect we might end up recreating this with images of other things that might end up in cages! It’s a simple and effective trick and one I plan to expand a little in the future.
We enjoyed painting on the special paint on the inside of the lid of the box and using a torch to ‘write’ on this in the dark. The children really enjoyed doing this and I think it’s something we might try and re-visit at some point in the winter months when we have darker mornings and nights. This was probably the least favourite activity for them this time; I’m not sure why but it didn’t seem to quite work so I think we will try again when they’re a touch older.
The most successful of the activities in this box for us this time around was the blooming flower one. This really captivated their attention and got both Mr D and Miss E really thinking about which flower would bloom the quickest. When we had timed them all we had a think about why certain ones were quicker than others. I intend to recreate this on the tuff spot on a bigger scale at some point as they were both utterly captivated by this. There’s so much that can be done with this activity and I’m excited to build on it in the future with them.
Another big hit here for Letterbox Lab. Again, I love that everything is, quite literally, all in one box. I can pick the box up and know that I have everything I need to hand. I also like that I get information (via email) before it arrives so I can have a quick read up on what the activities are as well as watch videos to explain them. Mr D is really excited to get into this, and that’s got to be a good thing.
These boxes really do pack a lot in, and it’s all quality items. The guides that come in the box are perfect and explain in really clear detail what the children will be doing and the science (or in this case ‘magic’) behind it. There are also links online as to how it fits into the National Curriculum, so you can be sure that it’s working alongside your children’s school work, or if you’re like us and Home Educating, you can be confident you’re covering things off. We can’t wait to see what box three brings!
These looks fab, I love that it makes learning fun and something they get excited about x
I love these type of boxes that are fun to play with but give educational value too to the childs learning.
It’s a great Ida. Putting everything you need in one box. Fab.
This is an excellent idea – I reckon my nieces and nephews would absolutely love this x
What a fantastic box! Unique, fun & educational! I would have loved something like this as a child!
This looks brilliant and my three would love this, they’re really in to magic so this would be a great way to engage them with something educational at the same time.