Scientific Explorer and Elmers Science Fair Review and GIVEAWAY!! **ENDED**

I was absolutely thrilled last year when I realized my son enjoys science. He had his first paper due this year and next year he will have his first science project. Although it is fun and exciting, science projects usually mean time and money for moms and dads. Elmer's and Scientific Explorer are two companies who love science and who want to help make projects a little easier so you can just have fun.

The Scientific Explorer Lava Blasting Volcano is a great kit for at-home or classroom use. Every child should have an opportunity to erupt a volcano and my kids were very excited about the kit. It is designed for children ages 8 + and it includes everything you need to create your own volcanic blast.  The kit includes  scientific facts so your children can learn how volcanoes form and why they explode. The volcano can erupt up to 10 times and includes everything you will need:  plaster, baking soda, citric acid, red food coloring, 1 measuring cup, 1 measuring spoon, 1 stir stick, 1 volcano mold top, 1 volcano mold base, 1 volcano stand, and activity guide.

Review: The directions were pretty easy to follow. You need to make the base of the volcano at least a day or two ahead of time. Unfortunately, while the clay was drying my dogs attacked the volcano and it broke apart. The eruption still worked and my kids were thrilled about the results. My son kept saying over and over again, "This is so cool!" 

The booklet that accompanies the kit has a lot of great volcano facts and it really encourages kids to make observations throughout the experiment. This was a really great kit that makes science fun and interesting!

I remember having to make science display boards from scratch when I was a kid. A perfectionist from birth, I was always disappointed that my artistic skills (which are pretty good) still left the board looking messy. Elmer's, the most trusted name in glue products, offers some great products that will make your child's boards look amazing! Here are a few products:
Elmer's Tri-Fold Foam Boards
Bi-Fold Foam Boards
Project Popperz Permanent Markers
Project Popperz Repositionable Letters and Numbers
Project Popperz Reuseable Plastic Stencils

Review: My son was not too happy about making up a science project in order to test out the products, so I decided to use them to make some garage sale signs.  The foam boards are super sturdy and were posted a couple days before our sale and continued to look good through the elements.  These are probably a much better option for kids than cardboard which can easily bend and tear. The Project Popperz products were amazing and I really wish I would have had similar products when I was a kid. Several people commented on how nice my signs looked. The letters adhered to the board like a post-it style note and truly were repositionable. The markers were bold and thick and each one had a different color on each side (so a pack of four has a total of eight color options). The stencils were also great and create a nice and neat effect.  I definitely know what products I will be turning to when my son has his first project!

Virtual Science Fair Contest:  Check out this new contest Scientific Explorer<http://www.scientificexplorer.com/> just launched  – a Virtual Science Fair! Here’s the video announcement<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZgQYOKwa_Y>  and some more details about the Virtual Science Fair.  To share our love of science, Scientific Explorer has created an ongoing Virtual Science Fair. They are encouraging you – kids, parents, teachers – to share how you learn and experience science, inside and outside the classroom. Send them your video entry - simply post a response video to one of theirs! Each month thy will select a winner of the Virtual Science Fair to showcase and reward with a $50 gift card and free Scientific Explorer products.

Buy it here: The Scientific Explorer Lava Blasting Volcano can be purchased online from Giddyup or Amazon.

Win it here: One lucky Cake Mom reader is going to win all the great science products from Elmers and Scientific Explorer mentioned in this post!!

**Please read the rules**
This is open to US residents only. You must complete the mandatory entry before completing optional entries. Each optional entry needs to be added as a separate comment. Comments that do not follow the rules will not count and will be deleted. PLEASE LEAVE ME YOUR EMAIL IN THE COMMENT if your comment is not in your profile! Only one set of entries per household.

Mandatory Entry:  Tell me another product from Scientific Explorer you would love. 


Optional entries: Leave an additional comment for each entry. For example, if you blog about this contest, leave 3 separate comments!
 1. Follow my blog (publicly)
2. Subscribe to my blog via email and confirm the subscription
3. Grab my button and post a link to your blog
4. Blog about this contest (with a link to my blog) and post a link to your blog (3 entries)5. Follow me on Twitter and tweet about this contest (can be done daily). You must place a link to your tweet.6. Enter another one of my contests. Enter as many as you like, but this method is only worth 1 entry regardless of how many you enter.
7.  Like Cake Mom on Facebook (2 entries!) 
8. Follow Scientific Explorer and Elmer's on Twitter
9.  Friend or subscribe to Scientific Explorer on You Tube

 The winner will be selected on 6/8 via random.org and will be emailed. The winner will have 48 hours to respond.

I was provided with the above mentioned products for the purpose of facilitating this review. No other compensation was received and the views expressed here are my own. 

Congrats to Katlaw777! You have been emailed.