Homeschooling with the Curiosity Box

Abigail was given two science subscriptions for her Christmas present this year. The first was for MEL Chemistry, the other was for the Curiosity Box. Fortunately, these have been a great addition to her studies. She really enjoys Homeschooling Science and Engineering with Curiosity Box. I do the MEL Chemistry with her, and intend to blog each experiment we do together. The Curiosity Box will be used differently, in that Abigail will be doing these alone or with friends.

The box comes through once a month, about a week after MEL Chemistry. Consequently, it is like the Christmas present that keeps on giving! Here she is with this month’s box:

Homeschooling with the Curiosity Box: Contents

The box is a sturdy, large sized box with lots of science-y drawings all over it. There is always much anticipation to open it and discover this month’s topic. Inside, there are two levels. The first contains the reward stickers, as well as the information cards for that month’s topic:

The cards introduce the month’s topic and the experiments. There are also postcards of different scientists who are well known within the topic’s sphere. Often, there is also a ‘science in the past’ postcard. This outlines important discoveries of the past which are pertinent to the topic in hand:

The stickers are placed on the poster, which Abigail has hanging in her Ab’s Labs corner. The scientist sticker is added once she has finished reading about the scientist of the month. Likewise, the second sticker is added once all the experiments of that box are completed:

Homeschooling with the Curiosity Box: The Activities

Underneath the card divider sits all the experiments for the month. This particular box was based around the human body and was entitled ‘Healthy Me’. It contained four activities, of which Abigail has completed three so far:

The first activity above allows Abigail to see her pulse at work. The second, to recreate a hand. She can then use the hand to demonstrate how the muscles and bones in her hand work together to create movement. The activities below had Abigail making fake edible poo and allowed her to compare her home-made poo to the poo chart that nutritionists and doctors use, and to test three different lab produced urines to test for infections and diabetes:

As you can see, each activity is contained within its own baggy, and has everything you need to complete it:

Including a very clear and colourful information card, which often contains charts and diagrams which would be used by scientists in their fields:

These information cards are then kept in the folder provided:

Any out-sized bits and bobs are included at the bottom of the pack, such as this working hand model outline:

Homeschooling with the Curiosity Box: Science Equipment Included!

Each box contains a real, high quality piece of science equipment. So far, Abigail has got binoculars and a sieve. In this box, there was a Newton Meter:

Homeschooling with the Curiosity Box: Molecular Models

Each month there is a molecular model to make. These molecules will have something to do with the theme of the box. This month the molecular model was of cyclopropane, an old fashioned anaesthetic:

Homeschooling with Curiosity Box: Doing the Activities:

Abigail is ten years old and she is fully able to be completely independent with her Curiosity Box activities. The other great thing is that she is very happy to share doing the experiments with her younger sister or any unsuspecting friend who comes around. Here they are making fake edible poo:

After which, they compared it to the poo chart:

Next, Abigail and Becca tested urine samples whilst I’m cooking tea! Don’t worry, they were not real urine!

Yesterday, Abigail decided to massacre a big cardboard box and make a working hand:

Also, she and Becs tried out the Newton Meter:

I don’t always get to capture them doing the activities, but whenever I do, I’ll post more.

This is a very worth while investment, and above all, the company is fabulous to deal with. For this reason, the Curiosity Box comes highly recommended!