Play and Learn Every Day

Discovering Beaker Creatures

11:59

We are very lucky to be discovering and playing with the new Beaker Creatures from Learning Resources! They're a new surprise toy with a twist, adding some STEM learning and experiments to the mix!

We received three different packs; the 2 Pack with Bio Home, the Magnification Chamber set and the Liquid Reactor Super Lab.

We opened the smallest set first, the 2 Pack with Bio Home to see how these Beaker Creatures worked. They come hidden in a Reactor Pod (a bit similar to a bath bomb) that you then place in water to extract. (This set has one already out of its pod, that you can just identify and play with).

There are five different types of Beaker Creatures, Frostonians, Buglettes, Minisaurs, Astrolytes and Oceanites and each set has six different creatures to collect (making it 35 in all, plus some limited edition gold ones to look for). There are classification cards that come with each creature as well as information sheets about the worlds that they come from. It gives you a lot of information and learning materials to continue the fun after the extraction, which I really like.

To extract, you start by unwrapping the plastic from around the Reactor Pod (do be careful with this step as I did accidentally break one of them whilst I was unwrapping it).

You then place the Reactor Pod in a small bowl of water and watch the reaction happen!

Ethan loved watching the pod fizz and sizzle as the creature made its way out and floated to the top in its little case.

He then opened up the little holder to reveal which creature he had, and then identify it on the card.

You can also place it in the little bio home to store it as well as get a closer look through the magnifying lens at the top.

Next we moved on to the Magnification Chamber set which also comes with two creatures to reveal.

Inside this set there is a large Magnification Chamber to observe and collect your creatures in, the 2 Reactor Pods with creatures inside as well as the identification cards and fact sheets.

Ethan really liked the bendable magnifying glass at the top and used it straight away to get a closer look at the Reactor Pod before putting it in the water.

Of course this time he couldn't resist getting his hands in there to feel the bubbles as the Reactor Pod dissolved and fizzled.

The Reactor Pods are different colours to coincide with the creatures from the different worlds inside of them, which Ethan really liked as well.

And the creatures do look really cool inside the Magnification Chamber once they have been extracted from their pods.

Finally we opened the Liquid Reactor Super Lab which Ethan had been so excited to see what was inside!

We put the lab together (it was quite simple to do and only took a couple of minutes) then we filled up the beakers with water, placed a Reactor Pod in the chamber and we were ready to go!

First you fill up the syringes (hydroplungers) with water from the beakers.

Then you lock the hydroplungers into place on the base.

Then it's time to push down on the plungers and watch as the water flows through the tubes and into the main chamber to reach the Reactor Pod and start the reaction! It bubbles over the top of the whole thing and looks incredible, Ethan loved it!

Lastly you use your tongs to pick up your creature and then you can identify it.

I love that all of the sets come with little booklets including more experiments and activities that you can do with your set and your creatures to continue the fun after the extractions are finished. This is going to be a lot of fun to play with over the summer!

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* This is a review post, we were sent the Beaker Creatures sets in order to review them and write our honest opinions.*

4 years old

Superhero Lotto Game Review

11:50

We've been playing a new game from Orchard Toys called Superhero Lotto. Both Ethan and Ivy are crazy about superheroes so it is the perfect theme for them!

The game is pretty simple to set up straight out of the box, each player chooses a superhero board, which is two large puzzle pieces that slot together. Then you place all of the lotto cards face down in the middle of your playing area.

The game boards are double sided, but we started by using the more straightforward side. The superhero is at the top and there are pictures of 6 items at the bottom that you need to collect. You then take turns picking up a lotto card from the middle and hoping that it is a match for your board.

The first player to find all of the items that their superhero needs is the winner!

After we played the game once through this way, we then turned our boards over to explore the other side. It is the same superhero / child on the back but with a bit of a twist.

You now get to read about them, their names, superpowers, likes and dislikes, etc. This is great as Ethan was able to read his own and I helped Ivy to read hers.

Then you have a look at the picture and find the six items that you will be playing for. This was a great way of doing it for us as we had already played on the other side so we were familiar with what we were looking for. There are now no images on the bottom squares, so you need to find them in the top picture to identify which ones you need.

The game is then played in the same way, taking turns to turn over the lotto cards to try to find the ones that go with your superhero.

I love that there is this extra challenge to the game, so as well as turn taking and memory skills they are also now being challenged to read and improve their observation skills.

And on a nice day we were even able to bring the game outside to play it in the garden. So of course after tidying up it was the perfect opportunity to pretend to fly around the yard pretending to be superheroes! For more fun, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest and sign up to receive our newsletter for regular updates!

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* This is a review post, we were sent the Superhero Lotto Game from Orchard Toys in order to play with it and write our honest opinions.*