I am always looking for fun new activities to keep L occupied over the summer holidays and if they have some educational benefit then even better. The Flying Science Kit from Toys & Bears is a perfect example of that. Not only did it fill an otherwise boring day when we were stuck at home waiting on workmen, it has taught him about various types of propulsion and lift and has left him with some great toys that he has built and will last.
The Flying Science Kit comes with everything you need to make two planes, two flying spinners and a kite. In addition you also get two mini frisbees and a little bag of balloons. The instruction manual not only tells you how to make up the different things but also has information about the experiments and how you are making them fly.
L loved making up the planes and adding the stickers to them, it was really fin to get to decorate them. We then took them to the garden and tried to see who could get their plane to fly the furthest.
The spinners were our favourite, super simple to make, just pushing the two elements together. They fly superbly, it’s really good fun. They are easy to make, easy to use and you get impressive results. We even got to the point where we could launch them and catch them which was really fun.
The kite was the only thing that he needed help building, tying the strings was a bit fiddly even for me. But we got there and it’s another item we’ll get to decorate together. It hasn’t happened yet, the excitement of actually making it was too much, but we’re going to get the Sharpies out and draw and colour the white kite. It’s a good size kite and we managed a little flight in the garden, but we’re waiting for a good blustery day to get it up to the park and give it a good test flight.
The frisbees are straightforward garden fun. Something I had never thought about as a science experiment before. But watching L learn about the shape of them and what makes them fly was great, watching him get that perfect throw that saw them gliding through the air and his excitement over it was even better.
The balloons are the final fun experiment, simply blowing them up and letting them go. It made L laugh and giggle and it’s silly that we so rarely do it. It was harder getting him to understand the science behind it, he was too busy laughing and getting the balloons to make funny sounds. But you know what, that’s all part of it.
I love that you get at least two of each experiment, apart from the kite, it makes it perfect for sharing between siblings which is such a rare thing to find. I also love that things like the frisbees and flying spinners will last for ages and will be played with again and again. The kite is a little more fragile but it should last at least for the whole summer, if not a little longer. The balloons are pretty much one use only, as you would expect and the little planes are really rather fragile so will at some point break but you’ll definitely get more than one use. All in all I think this makes it fabulous value for money. It costs £22.99 but knowing it will be enough for two children and that the contents will last and last gets it the thumbs up from me.
We really loved this set and there are so many other great things on the Toys & Bears website, a perfect summer holiday boredom buster.
Disclosure – we were gifted our Flying Science Kit. All thoughts, opinions and images are my own.
