Dinorobot Kit Aged 8+

Dinorobot - Science Museum
Only £9.99
An excellent value make it yourself kit for any child to make their own Monster! Like all the Science Museum Kits the Dinorobot Kit is really fun to build and very easy to assemble. Children just seem to love anything to do with monsters and dinosaurs. This particular Dinorobot is powered by an electric motor which controlls the Dinorobot movement. When they are building this kit children will learn about electric motors, circuits, and the future of robots! The contents of the Dinorobot Kit inlcude the outer body casing, inner mechanical engine (axle, gear, motor, engine casing, arm, base platform, wheels), Rubber bands, Double adhesive tapes, and full detailed instructions with fun facts. 2 x AA batteries required (not included). 8 years +

Solar System Mobile Kit

Solar System Mobile - Science Museum
(£16.99)
Most boys just love anything to do with space and space travel. This Solar System mobile kit will really interest any boy who loves space. They will see how the planets relate to each other and to the sun and at night the Solar System Mobile becomes a 3-Dimensional display as it glows-in-the-dark.
The mobile presents the planets in the correct order, but of course the planets and the sun are not to the same scale of size or distance because this would be impossible.

The planets and sun are made of plastic and snap together for an easy build without glue. The kit also includes glow-in-the-dark paint, Paint brush, 420mm x 594mm Bonus poster with facts of the Solar System, and a painting and assembly instruction sheet. To make the Solar Mobile Glow it simply needs to be exposed to room light or torch light for a minute. Turn off the light and watch the planets glow like magic! Recharge as necessary and it will glow again and again. The Solar Mobile Kit is recommended for children aged 7 years +

Electric Dragster Kit from Science Museum

Electric Dragster Kit - Science Museum
( £10.99)
Dragsters are the ultimate in fast acceleration. This build your own Dragster kit allows you to enjoy the thrill of building one of these monsters of the racing track. Real Dragsters of course don't have an electric motor but for a small build it yourself fun and education kit an electric motor is perfect because the motor can run up to full speed in a very short time.

Dragster racing is basically about acceleration and the best dragsters build up to top speed much quicker than the others. In building this kit you can learn about electric motors, circuits and the way a dragster works. The Dragster Kit contents include the Battery box, Gear box, 2 x CDs for back wheels, 2 x Front wheels, Small and large screw block, Coloured flag and flag rod, Chassis rods, Front axle, Tubing & sticky tape. The Dragster Kit also includes easy to follow detailed assembly instructions with fun facts included. The kit requires 2 x AA Battery (not included). 14 Years +

In a real Dragster race two cars begin at the starting line and race each other in a straight line over a course that is usually one quarter of a mile long. The current world record was set in July 2009, by Tony Schumacher and is 4.428 seconds for the 1/4 mile from a standing start. Boy that's fast!

Rough Roader Car Kit Age 8+

Like the educational kit in our last post the Rough Roader Car Kit (Age 8+) by the Science Museum is great for letting the kids have fun building something themselves while learning at the same time. They will build a working off-road vehicle and while they are doing it they wail learn about scientific principles like energy, force and friction. But the main ting is that they will have fun while they are doing it.

As with the Speedster Car Kit this kit comes complete with the chassis, bodywork panels, Pre-wired motor, Battery holder with and safety cut-out), Pre-cut plastic axles, Plastic wheels and gears, Chunky foam tyres, and Reusable rivets. No glue or tools needed to complete this kit. Requires 1 x AA Battery (not included). The kit is Suitable or ages 8+ and is excellent value at only £9.99

The Science Museum has great educational toys and you will find reviews of them in this blog.

Build a Racing Car Kit

Speedster Racer Car Kit - Educational Kit from the Science Museum Aged 8+
There's nothing quite like building a kit yourself when your a child for getting a real sense of achievement and having some really great fun. There are of course plenty of pre-built model cars on the market but this racer car kit gets a child to actually get to grips with building their own racer. In the process of doing this they will explore a number of scientific principles like energy, force, and friction, simple mechanisms, circuits, and electric motors. Children usually learn best when they are enjoying themselves and they will soak up this stuff without even realising that they are learning. It certainly wont fell like a chore as they build this model racer.


The racer has a spur gear drive and comes with slick tyres, adjustable steering, electric motor, switch, drive train, and steerable front axle. The kit includes the chassis and bodywork panels, and the motor is pre-wired. Because all the materials and components are preformed there is no gluing or any need for using tools. The racer needs an AA Battery which isn't included. For ages 8 and up.
And the price for this much fun and learning ? Just £9.99 from a UK supplier when we posted this.

Radio Controlled Morphibian Car

Radio Controlled Morphibian Car - with lights - from the Science Museum

This is a superb amphibious 4x4 vehicle that powers over land and through water. It has a powerful 4x4 traction, which allows it to drive over rough terrain and power through the water.

The Morphibian floats on the water and is able to move because the wheel grips work as paddles, which gves much greater control. The handset that controls this amphibious radio controlled vehicle is easy to use and works with a range of up to 20ft. Requires 3x AA batteries and 2x AAA batteries which are not supplied.
The Amphibian was on sale for £29.99 from the abive link when we posted this.

Walkie Talkie Glasses

Walkie Talkie Glasses - Science Museum

This walkie talkie set is built into the glasses and allows you to communicate over distances of up to 120ft. It has a Push to talk function and a really great audio quality. The Walkie Talkie kit comes with batteries included (8x LR44)

Solar Airship 8 metres long with tether

Solar Airship - Science Museum

This giant solar airship is 8 meters long but it needs only a small amount of sunlight to cause the air inside to expand and thus lift the airship into the sky. It comes with a tether to fly like a kite but its a real working Solar Airship that will have the kids and everyone else fascinated. The is a very unusual educational type toy and you can guarantee that there wont be many folk in the neighbourhood who have one of these. And the price ? Just £9.99 = a truly amazing price for a really novel airship kit.

Educational and Interesting toys

We thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the unusual and interetsing education toys thta are available. Educational toys are of course not only for boys and many girls will love these kinds of toys too. There are some really good toys and kits available. We'll have a look at some of them in this post and then a few more next time.

The Science Museum supply some excellent educational type toys and they are available from a number of suppliers.

Virtually Indestructible R/C Plane MKII - Science Museum
This Radio-controlled plane has an easy to use motion-sensitive joystick and is well suited for learners. The revolutionary joystick controller makes controlling the plane simple and intuitive. Turn the joystick left or right and the planes direction changes. The plane has a shape-memory plastic construction so that the crashes and scrapes you have as you learn t fly dont end up with you wrecking the plane. These types of RC aeroplanes really teach kids about how planes fly - and there is many a Dad who loves flying them too!

Juggling Science with DVD- Science Museum

How about learning to juggle? Juggling is a wonderful skill to master and there is nothing quite like juggling to teach skills excellent hand eye co-ordination. When you first realise that you are juggling its an amazing sense of achievement. Theres a DVD supplied with this kit.

Magnum Power Telescope - Science Museum

One of the worlds most powerful home telescopes! This telescope has a maximum magnification of 675x and it shows distant objects in superb detail. Includes full size extendable tripod, 3 interchangeable lenses for optimum magnification, finder scope with crosshairs and barlow lens.

Bakugan Battle Pack

The Bakugan batle pack is currently heading to be one of the top selling toys this Christmas. As always the top selling Christmas toys can sometimes be hard to find so its always worth buying these early. The Bakugan Battle Pack is suitable for children aged 5 plus.
The Pack includes 6 metal brawlers 6 metalic cards and 6 abilty cards. this one wil be realy popular this year. Bakugan is based on a Japanese anime television series. The story is about a group of seven children who find metallic cards which have fallen from the sky. The friends name themselves the Bakugan Battle Brawlers. The group learn about the origin of Bakugan, the game involving them, and battle against Hal-G and Naga.
Bakugan Battle Pack fromToys R Us only £14.78

Heli Mission

The Heli Mission radio controlled model pack was recently rated number one of all RC Flying toys by the Gadget Show. It has an RC truck which carries round inside it an RC helicopter with both controlled by a dual function rc controller. You drive the truck about and then when you are ready to launch your Heli Mission the truck opens up and the Helicopter flies out from inside the truck. Its great fun and the models are very tough and reliable. Given that there are two RC models in this pack its quite amazing that it can be found on sale for less than £60.
To find current prices and suppliers for the RC Heli Mission check this link.

Heli Mission RC pack £59.95

The Heli Mission would make a killer Xmas present for any boy or girl who may be interested in RC models because they get a helicopter and a truck all in the one pack.