Jun 18, 2012

Slime, Polymer & Magnets Attract Five Top Prizes From Creative Child Awards & Father’s Day ’12 Mr. Dad & GreatDad Recommends

If you are a young scientist, discovering “proof” that something really works is amazing! If you are a parent of The Young Scientists Club fan, proof that these kits are incredible gets proved every year by such prestigious competitions as the 2012 Creative Child Awards. They just bestowed their trifecta of accolades — Kids Product of the Year, Toy of the Year and Preferred Choice of the Year to all three new The Magic School BusTM kits, where kids get to handle polymers, magnets and slime. Want more proof? The big guys from this year’s Father’s Day 2012 Mr. Dad Seal of Approval and GreatDad Recommends awarded two top honors to The Magic School BusTM — in its Elementary School category — after getting slimed and testing three delivered-monthly-to-home Science Club kits.

Winning top honors from Creative Child is especially newsworthy since the judges are the very folks who purchase these products! According to the Creative Child website, the magazine’s awards program is unique in that all products submitted are reviewed by moms, music educators and early education professionals. Look for the winning products in the 2012 holiday issue of Creative Child Magazine.

The Mr. Dad Seal of Approval and the GreatDad Recommends program recognize products and services that support their mission of giving men the resources, tools, and information they need to be the fathers they want to be and that their families need them to be.

The Young Scientists Club notes that they are batting 1000 with Creative Child judges whenever they roll out a new kit. In 2011, each of their five new products took home top honors from Creative Child judges. In fact, since 2009, The Young Scientists Club has earned a Toy or Kids Product of the Year title — a first place distinction given to only one product in its category. That’s proof that these science kits are the best on the market for instilling a love of learning while having a blast (or a magnetic attraction or getting hands gooey). The five honors (and judges comments) given to The Young Scientist Club kits for Spring 2012 and Father’s Day 2012 include:

Grow Amazing Polymers Group Pack • Ages 5+ • $79.99
2012 Kids Product of the Year Award • Science Kits Category

Ms. Frizzle and her students take Young Scientists on a wild ride with The Magic School BusTM group pack for up to 30 students. Grow Amazing Polymers is great for the classroom, after-school programs, science enrichment, boy and girl  scouts, camps, or a Magic School Bus birthday Party! Young Scientists grow super balls, snow, rainbow beads, crystal gels, and polymer flowers while learning about the importance and science of super-absorbent polymers. This kit comes with 30 colorful manuals that are based on the popular Magic School Bus TV and book series.

Attracted to Magnificent Magnets • Ages 5+ • $19.99
2012 Toy Of The Year Award • Educational Toys Category

Ms. Frizzle and her students take Young Scientists on a wild ride while becoming attracted to magnificent magnets. Young Scientists go on a magnetic scavenger hunt, build a compass, make magnetic slime, design magnetic faces, experiment with lodestone, play magnetic games, hold magnetic car races, and much, much more! This magnified kit includes a colorful poster with a racing track, game board, and experiment diagrams.

Slime and Polymer Lab • Ages 5+ • $39.99
2012 Preferred Choice Award • Science Kits Category Father’s Day 2012 Mr. Dad.com Seal of Approval and GreatDad Recommends

Creative Child judges wrote in their review: Ms. Frizzle and her students take Young Scientists on a wild ride with The Magic School BusTM as they explore slime and polymers. Young Scientists take polymers out of milk, make slime, create goop, produce a snow eruption, melt snow, grow super- absorbent flowers, germinate seeds in polymers, perform a polymer trick, dehydrate polymers, and much, much more! This gooey bus-shaped kit comes packed with science components, 20 colorful experiment cards, a data notebook to record observations, and 10 containers of polymers including super balls, rainbow beads, snow, and gel crystals.

Mr. Dad.com and GreatDad Recommends wrote this glowing perspective:
“We’ve had the chance to evaluate a number of Magic School Bus products and this one fits the mold: fun, educational, hands-on, and extremely well designed. You and your child(ren) will learn how to make polymers out of milk, grow super-absorbent flowers, and dehydrate polymers, and a lot more. Each one comes with the ingredients and instructions you need for the experiments and a data notebook to record observations. And don’t worry–all the materials have an adult section so even if you have no science experience at all, you’ll be able to participate fully. I can’t think of many activities that have brought more fun, bonding, and knowledge to my home than The Young Scientists Club!”

The Magic School Bus: Science Kits • Ages 5+ • $19.99/month Club Membership
3 Monthly Kits: Magnets • Solids, Liquids and Gasses • Volcanoes Father’s Day 2012 Mr. Dad.com Seal of Approval and GreatDad Recommends

Father’s Day 2012 judges enthusiastically described their experience with all kits: 

“Can’t get enough of the Magic School Bus (honestly, I’m not sure that’s possible)? Well now you can have a new science adventure delivered right to your home every month if you join the Young Science Club. We had the chance to test drive three kits and absolutely loved them. As with everything else in the Magic School Bus line, these kits come with everything you need to conduct experiments, log your results, and have a blast (in some cases, literally). In Magnets, you and your young scientist will learn how to make pins jump; create magnetic faces, and more. Coolest fact? When they’re very young, cows are given a magnet that sits in their stomach for life. Cows apparently eat nails, wire, and other metal bits. On their own those things would hurt the cow, but the magnet traps them and keeps them from doing harm! In Solids, Liquids, and Gasses, you’ll create gas, a bouncy ball, and some interesting goop. In Volcanoes, you’ll learn the properties of volcanoes by studying the layers of the earth, handling real volcanic rock, building a volcano, and mixing chemicals to create an eruption you and your budding Nobel laureate will want to repeat over and over again.”

Visit the award-winning The Young Scientists Club at www.theyoungscientistsclub.com for more information.

ABOUT THE MAGIC SCHOOL BUS
Based on the best-selling Scholastic book series The Magic School Bus is an award-winning animated TV series seen in 39 countries and 16 languages. With 58 million books in print, the brand has won many industry awards, including two Emmys for Lily Tomlin’s portrayal of Ms. Frizzle in the TV series, five CINE Golden Eagles, a Parents Choice Gold Medal, a National Conservation Achievement Award, an Environmental Media Association Award, and an Annenberg Public Policy Center Award. In celebration of its 25th Anniversary, Scholastic debuted two new iPad apps (“The Magic School Bus: Oceans” and “The Magic School Bus: Dinosaurs”), a new game for Nintendo DS and recently launched a 60-city live touring show (“The Magic School Bus Live! The Climate Challenge”). For more info about The Magic School Bus, please visit www.scholastic.com/magicschoolbus.

ABOUT THE YOUNG SCIENTISTS CLUB
Esther Novis, a mother of five and a former Harvard-trained biologist, started The Young Scientists Club as a summer science camp for her then 5-year-old son. Friends from other parts of the country told Novis they wanted to duplicate her concept and the idea for a science subscription service was born! The subscription kits are now mailed monthly to thousands of children around the world and the company’s retail kits are sold in hundreds of specialty stores. In addition to developing new products for The Young Scientists Club, this wise mom has many years of experience teaching at Phillips Academy, Andover and has written the science column for Parents Magazine plus wrote science experiments for the new science curriculum by McGraw-Hill Publishing.