Homeschool Product Consumer Review: Edu Science Do & Discover Splashing Fountain Kit

This is a consumer review of the Connex Electronics Set: Splashing Fountain. These educational science kits can be found at Toys R Us, and are designed so that kids can do science experiments without an adult's assistance, making them very appealing to a homeschool family. Kids often enjoy science experiments, but they want kits that they can put together themselves. The Splashing Fountain kit is part of the Do & Discover line by Edu Science. This particular kit focuses on the building of a circuit, and how it generates power. These concepts are included in the required educational standards for physical science during elementary school. We are a homeschool family and we purchased this kit to enhance Science concepts that our children are learning. This is a description of our experience with the Connex Electronics Set: Splashing Fountain.

Cost - The Connex Electronics Set: Splashing Fountain was priced at $6.99 at our local Toys R Us toy store. Since we have used other products by the Edu Science company, we were happy to see these single-concept science kits available at such a reasonable price, and felt that any homeschool family would find the price to be fair. The Do & Discover line is new to us, and there are several appealing items within it. We felt the cost of this specific kit was completely reasonable.

Quality - As homeschoolers, we have used other science kits before, and felt the quality of the Edu Science Splashing Fountain kit was acceptable. The pieces were relatively easy to identify via the printed instructions (which come in both English and Spanish), although there were extra "bridge" pieces that were ambiguous. The instructions never said to actually use these parts for anything. As homeschoolers, we love materials that our children can work with alone, as they often feel that a Science experiment is far less fun if too complicated for them to do on their own. The switch box was easy enough to assemble that my 5 year old figured it out. I particularly liked the fact that the casing components for the switch box are clear plastic, so that the kids can see the wires from the outside, which helps them to retain the concept of how the wiring works in relation to the switch. The components for the fountain itself are made of green transparent plastic, which were both aesthetic and sturdy. As homeschoolers, we also need educational materials that store easily, and the box that hold the components is durable and the parts fit easily inside.

Ease-of-use - My feelings as to the Splashing Fountain kit's ease-of-use are mixed. My children, ages 12, 9, and 5, were able to put all of the components together and place the wires properly without too much difficulty by following the included directions. However, when the switch was turned on, the fountain only worked for about 2 seconds before stopping. As homeschoolers who have to purchase all of our childrens' curriculum and materials with our own money, we definitely don't want to waste money on products we cannot use effectively. No matter what we do at this point, including taking it all apart and reassembling all of the components, the fountain will not work again. We will likely return this product to the store and ask to exchange it with an identical kit, in hopes that the problems we have experienced with the one we purchased are just an anomaly.

The Splashing Fountain kit, as well as all of the Connex Electronic Sets in the Do & Discover line by Edu Science, are nice little kits for kids to put together on their own, homeschooled or otherwise. Although the Splashing Fountain kit stopped working after just a few seconds, we do own other Do & Discover kits, and those work fine. I am hopeful that this particular kit we purchased simply needs to be replaced with one that works.