Science Expeditions – A Kit from Little Passports {Review}

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Little Passports have been bringing the joy of world geography through monthly subscription boxes for a few years now. Now, they offer a new kind of learning experience with their Science Expeditions monthly kit.

We got to try out the first kit. It kit arrived in our mailbox in a specially marked box. Inside was a zippered bag to store your stuff in, along with special things you will need to do the experiments (including instructions!)

This first month was all about Forensic Science. First, you need to read the fun, full-coloured comic book about Sofia and Sam – the two young people who are from the Little Passports adventures but this time are doing some power of observations to put some clues together to figure out where their aunt has disappeared to. The back of the story has several pages of activities (like learning to recognized forged handwriting and learning how to case a crime scene) and a glossary to help with relevant words.

Then it’s science time.

Science Expeditions - a monthly science subscription box

This forensic science-themed kit has 3 awesome experiments: extracting DNA from a strawberry, investigating fingerprints, and studying splatters. Materials are clearly marked – making it quick to grab what you need from your pantry and household supplies. The estimated time to complete these three projects is about 2 hours.

One of the neatest thing that is included in this kit is the Lab Notebook. The inside is filled with grid paper pages for experiment notes and observations. There is plenty of space for anything you are working on – and probably even some experiments of your own. In the front is a dedicated space with 12 hexagons where you stick your monthly achievement badges to show what you’ve finished. I love this because it gets the kids excited to do their experiments and earn their badges.

I decided to test out the kit with my 9-year-old boy. He has recently decided that he would like to be a scientist when he grows up, so any opportunity to do anything scientific is exciting for him. We started with the

We started with the fingerprinting because the supplies were all included and it was simple to do. It was actually a lot of fun to look at all our fingerprints and compare how similar and different we were. This particular project ended up with many of the other kids because they were fascinated. A page of scrap paper of printing tests later, we were ready to try the real prints on the analysis page.

Next, we set up the kitchen for some blood spatters (made of paint… not real blood). My little scientist grabbed his homemade lab coat and safety goggles, set everything up, and excited prepped his lab observation book. The spatters experiment was really fun to do together. Together we tested blood splats from all different heights and what they looked like. The boy diligently wrote his observations in his lab book and we discussed our findings together.

The last experiment that we did was the DNA extraction. The materials list calls for a couple of things we didn’t have around the house: strawberries and rubbing alcohol. It’s off-season for berries, so we ended up needing to go to two different stores before we found some. Later, while reading through the instructions, we learned that you can use many other kinds of fruit instead (however, strawberries have the best DNA). We bought strawberries and raspberries to try them both and see what would happen.

The instructions were easy to follow, making this experiment so fun. We watched our test tubes in anticipation. The strawberry turned out phenomenally – the DNA looked like a cloud of white blobbiness and when we gently pulled it out of the tube with the pencil, it resembled something like some clear snot. It was so amazing to know we were looking at the building blocks of a strawberry! The raspberry one, however, looked like nothing had happened. We decided to stick a pencil in any way and see what happened. There were teeny tiny little almost invisible strands in there. Apparently, you can do this experiment with lots of different items, including your cheek cells! Seeing your own DNA would be incredibly fascinating.

Strawberry DNA experiment results from Science Expeditions

I asked the boy what his thoughts were about this kit and his very concise answer was “I love it.” He liked that the instructions were clear, that it came with an awesome lab notebook, and that all the not-likely-to-be-in-your-house supplies came with it. He loves the bag to keep all his stuff in, too.

This kit is a lot of fun. Designed for kids ages 9 and up, it’s a great way to encourage a love of science by providing interesting, hands-on experiments.

Find out more at the Little Passports website.

Lisa Marie Fletcher
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63 thoughts on “Science Expeditions – A Kit from Little Passports {Review}”

  1. She loved using mirrors. Colour half a picture then put mirror up to see the whole thing. We did like 4 pages of half pictures. Thanks she loves science

  2. I would LOVE to win this. My boys LOVE science as well. So the more science the better! Thank you for the wonderful review and the opportunity to win!

  3. So thrilled to have these new kits! And right on time Thanks for informing us about it and for the chance to win the first kit!

  4. We’re starting homeschooling this year and I wanted to get a subscription to Little Passports! This science one looks like such fun!

  5. I’ve been curious about Little Passports (and other subscription boxes). They sound like so much fun (and easy for mama!)

  6. My son’s favourite experiment was watching eggs immersed in different solutions to see which would “dissolve” first. The vinegar left no hard outer shell but still held together in a sort of rubberlike state.

  7. my boys had fun doing experiments about air last month. Learning about pressure and air flow, etc. My 8 yr old is always making up his own to do in his “lab”! 🙂

  8. My son loves hands on learning , i think his favorite was erupting a volcano until his lego men were swept away in a frothy red sea of “lava”

  9. For years now my kid’s favorite science experiment has been “Oobleck”. They can’t get enough! Thanks for the great review, I’ve been wondering about this kit. 🙂

  10. Have been looking into little passports for a while now! Very exciting that they now offer science kits! My daughter just this morning said she’s like to try tracking animals using fine powder to see the footprints they leave on different surfaces!

  11. My daughters always love Borex experiments where we can make crystals form on pipe cleaners They are biting at the bit to get their hands on Little passports science kits

  12. Our favorite science experiments are anything that has a chemical reaction! These Little Passports experiments look so fun!

  13. What has been your kid’s favourite science experiment? It’s hard to choose a favourite, but my son has loved making simple machines out of his Lego.

  14. My kids’ favorite experiment so far has been growing crystals and ‘walking’ water. This is such a great giveaway!

  15. Love this idea! My girls (8&7) love anything hands-on to do with science, though the best thing so far has been to buy them a microscope. They are always checking out things they find around the house and yard!

  16. My children enjoy science experiments. Our volcano experiment was a big hit. This would be a fun set to win.

  17. Second great review I’ve seen on this set – my daughter is very interested, as well. She really enjoys experiments with fire (!) and carbon dioxide.

  18. My kids’ favourite science experiment was seeing how long it took for snow to become water, and which froze faster – hot water, cold water, water with salt.

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