Hot Wires Plug & Play Electronics Set

With British Science Week upon us, John Adam’s Hot Wires Plug & Play Electronics Set is the perfect toy to generate interest in electronics and circuits for children.  Miss M age 9 was very excited to try this out as apparently has recently done a similar experiment at school with some wires and a light bulb so she was eager to get started and see what she could create.

The kit contains everything you need to make over 100 experiments along with a full colour instruction booklet that sets out each one clearly.  The connector parts are numbered for ease of use and there are many parts such as lightbulbs, speaker, finger sensor, buzzer, switch, LED lights… the list goes on to the extent that once you get the hang of it you can come up with your own creations.

Miss M didn’t waste any time and was straight in the box, creating before I even got a look in and the next thing I knew, she had an invention ready to show me – it’s that simple!

Miss M and her brother had created some sound effects and thought they were hilarious as I don’t think they were expecting to be able to make multiple sounds from what they saw in the box!  After calming them down, I managed to record this brief clip of the sounds effects in action:

Next up they decided to make a doorbell.  With it having been my birthday the day before they couldn’t believe it when they pressed the finished doorbell, and the tune was that of ‘Happy Birthday’ which none of us were expecting and it was a pleasant surprise.

Overall we absolutely love this Hot Wires set, it’s safe, it’s simple to use and the possibilities are endless.  Miss M can use it independently and create some amazing things that both children enjoy looking at and playing with.  She’s managed to expand some sets with further pieces to change the pitch of the sound that she made.  This really is good to get children thinking, learning and experimenting with electrics in a safe and educational way.

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the product in order to write an honest review.

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Nancy B’s Scientific Microscope and Activity Journal – Review

Nancy B is a former science teacher and science enthusiast who always longed for a microscope as a child.  She has now invented her own range of science tools to help children engage in the world of science and enable them to investigate and experiment themselves.  Each tool comes with a colour page activity journal with lots of ideas of things to do and it’s a place to record and document your findings.  The range is aimed at children 8+ and includes a Microscope, Moonscope, Aquascope, Binoculars and a Crime Solver Scope.

We were sent the Nancy B Microscope from Learning Resources to try out which comes with an activity journal and an impressive array of accessories.

Nancy B microscope 1The set includes:

  • Microscope
  • Activity journal
  • Tweezers
  • Scapel
  • Spatula
  • Stirring rod
  • Test tube
  • Pipette
  • Specimen vial
  • Petri dish
  • 7 cover slips and slide labels
  • 4 prepared slides and 7 blank slides

The Nancy B Microscope is a great piece of equipment.  It does require 3 AAA batteries in order for the light to work but the detail you can see through it is incredible.  It comes with three different magnification levels, 30x, 100x and 400x.

Nancy B microscope 2It has two lights, a top light to see 3D views and a bottom viewing light to see through things.  There is a focusing knob that easily turns either way, a rubberised eyepiece for comfort when viewing and a specimen holder with clips and a adjustable stopper to hold items in place.

Miss M who is getting ever closer to 7yrs old was keen to start observing.  As she is at the younger age for this range, I carefully showed her how to operate the Nancy B Microscope and assisted her in finding specimens to view.  We started with the pre prepared slides which I think are a fantastic idea to be included with this set.  On these we had items such as a peacock feather, a goldfish scale and some wool.  It was amazing how miniscual these samples were and showed that you don’t need much of a sample in order to see fantastic detail on the objects.

Nancy B microscope 3She was eager to be hands on and put items on the slides herself, using the included tools.  She also took the sample pots in the garden with her to collect small items to look at.  We used the activity book for ideas which I have to say is also fantastic.  It really does guide a child through using the microscope and starts with really basic objects before moving on to more interesting ideas. Everything is detailed in step by step stages, it has been really thought through and written for a child to follow and understand.  They are also spaces for the child to write their observations down, becoming a journal to look back on.

Nancy B microscope 4Some of the simplest ideas start from drawing some pen lines on a piece of paper, using a pen, pencil, crayon etc and then seeing what the difference is between them close up.  We then looked at the skin on our face by putting a piece of sticky tape on our cheek and peeling it off to look at the results. You can also look at cells from inside your cheek, different foods and of course anything from outside although I did have to remind Miss M as she dashed off to find some bugs, that the journal does say to only use dead bugs and don’t kill them to view them.  We did manage to find a dead fly on the windowsill and hope to find some other things over the summer.  Flower petals and leaves were interesting, in fact your possibilities are endless, keep trying different things, you may be surprised at the results.

Our most exciting sample was a drop of water from a pond,  Although the pond was covered in algae, the drop we took using the pipette looked clear, but in fact under the microscope, there were two micororganisms dashing about across the drop of water.  Miss M found this very exciting and we all jumped up to take a look.  Even Mister B showed his interest and wanted to take a look although we did hold the microscope carefully while he did this.

Nancy B microscope 5

I think the Nancy B Microscope is excellent.  It really helps children to engage in science and gains them many new skills through using this.  Miss M has learnt how to carefully collect samples using different tools, how to prepare the slides and how to operate the microscope.  She did require a little assistance focusing sometimes as depending on the object, different levels of magnitude were better but she did get the hang of the focusing knob and learnt how to move it away from the light so as not to crush the specimens!

I think the included accessories are excellent, I wasn’t expecting such a range but there really is a tool or pot suitable for every sample.  I think the design and quality of the Nancy B Microscope is great too and see it as a lasting piece of equipment that will be used time and time again.  I’m sure it will come in handy for many school projects and homework too, so definitely see this as a valuable piece of equipment that your child can enjoy over many years.

Why not take a look at Nancy B’s science range yourself, whether your child loves nature, water, the stars and sky, there is a piece of equipment to suit everyone!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and the microscope was sent to us in order to write the review.