If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, then you know I have a son. If you’ve primarily read older posts, it might surprise you to learn that that son is nearly 11 years old now. Trust me, I’m shocked too.
One moment you have a beautiful baby, who needs you for everything. In my case, my son was a sweet, easygoing, low temperament infant and toddler. He never tantrumed. He slept well. He travelled well. As he’s grown into a kid and now nearly a tween, he has become an easygoing, gentle boy. He likes science and video games. He could play his engineering iPad game for hours if I let him. He loves Minecraft and building Legos, tormenting his little sister (lovingly), cooking, baking… he’s a joy.
The hardest thing about kids in this day and age is, you guessed it, the screens.
When I was 11, I spent hours reading, folding fortune tellers, calling my friends, writing in my journal, and listening to music. My son likes reading, but the allure of a screen is too great.
I’ve known for a while that STEM kits are crucial for him. I keep a selection of kits, small Lego sets, and various other science-y crafts available throughout the summer.
And let me tell you — MEL Science is easily his favorite kit. Some tend to have difficult instructions that can get messed up easily. Some might end up with a project he isn’t super interested. But he has loved every single MEL Science kit I’ve ever gotten for him.
MEL Science kits are monthly kits you can have delivered to your home. That means a project your kiddo will love every single month. They also have an online component that gives kids additional activities, experiments, and more. All-in-all, a great idea for kids who like to stay busy and parents who don’t want their kid in front of a screen all summer.
The kit we received this month was for a Projector that you can use to design stories, scenes, and more, plus run additional experiments. The box comes with everything: instructions (that aren’t just easy to read, but fun to read), parts, and any other materials they might need. I love the fact that it isn’t a massive kit with 100 different tiny parts; it is easy for kids to follow, which helps them start and finish a project feeling confident.
My son said this: “I like that it’s easy to follow and I like the comics in the instructions too. Plus, it is something I can use after and play with my sister later.” Has a nearly 11-year-old ever had so much to say?
It took my son about 2-3 hours to put this together and he spent the rest of the afternoon playing with it. Even better, my 3-year-old got to enjoy it too and my son had a great time showing her how to use it and how it worked. While she might not have understood, it helped my son repeat the scientific principals and showed me how the project had really helped him understand something.
If you’ve got a kid who is endlessly curious and needs something to do this summer, I cannot recommend a MEL Science kit subscription for the summer and the future. If you decide to go for it, I highly recommend hoarding the kits for breaks; I often do this with my son so he has something for winter and spring breaks as well.
Click here to learn more about MEL Science and try a subscription for yourself!
*As always, an asterisk in the title of this post indicates that I received this product free for review. This post does also contain affiliate links, which help me keep the lights on here at Writing Between Pauses. Thank you for supporting my blog!