George’s Marvellous Experiment Kit By John Adams Review

Reviewed by Deborah Banasko

You can’t beat a Roald Dahl classic story, and George’s Marvellous Medicine is one of the funniest and craziest. Being able to review the George’s Marvellous Medicine Experiment Kit by John Adams is perfect timing as my 7 year old is a huge fan of the author and this book.

We have a few general science kits at home already so we were hoping that this one wouldn’t be another repetition and would be linked to the story. In the story, George creates a medicine in an attempt to cure his Grandma from being so grumpy and horrid, so this makes a great basis for a science kit and avoids the risk of your child going rogue and trying to create their own medicine (for our nice Grandma!).

The box lid features one of the key Quentin Blake illustrations from the book, so any child who has read it will instantly be drawn to this.  Inside the box are the instructions and equipment to create 15 George-themed experiments, inspired by the book. They promise to be full of colour, bubbles, slimy stuff and science fun… everything that a child wants from a kit like this.

You will need some basic household ingredients to supplement the kit but this is standard practice for a toy of this type and there wasn’t anything too unusual required, just items such as washing up liquid, food colouring, bicarbonate of soda, vinegar, cooking oil and the like. The red cabbage and lemon juice were items that we didn’t stock at home so check your cupboards before getting this toy out!

The set includes a teacup, spoon, saucer, saucepan play tray, rocket pot, mini saucepan and lid, muslin, a Grandma Kranky ball, slime-pot and lid, syringes, tubing, a George head, George mould, egg separator, acetate sheet, card scenery and instruction booklet.

Setting up the experiments is pretty simple for children although due to the mess I would suggest that an adult supervises. The cardboard backdrop is super cute as it depicts George’s potions and bottles so your child can pretend to be George.

I loved the instruction booklet; each experiment has a title and a quote from the story, to give the experiment some relevance. The kit items you need plus any extras from your kitchen are listed, along with the difficulty level and the time it will take to complete, which is useful as a parent. The instructions themselves are very clear and succinct, plus there are a few easy to follow diagrams so you can’t really go wrong. For some of the tasks there are additional activities too. The booklet is so clear that it does allow children some independence with this kit.

An easy favourite was the Candy Rainbow experiment and it required no assistance from me as my 10 year old took the lead with her 7 year old brother. You simply arrange Skittle sweets inside the circular play tray, pour in hot water and wait for the colours to leak and create a rainbow. Very basic, but entertaining for younger children.

My 7 year old also enjoyed the “Expanding Gummies” experiment were you make a gummy bear increase in size overnight by leaving it in sugar water. Again, pretty basic stuff but it does have the “wow” and giggle factor for a 7 year old. Plus it gets them asking the “how” and “why” questions so you can get into the science of experiment.

You can make fireworks in Georges head (well at least in the plastic model), and for this you need bicarbonate of soda and oil placed into the head, which most people would have in a cupboard at home. Mix vinegar and food colouring, then carefully syringe (like a real scientist!) it into the head and watch the mixing and eventual volcano-like eruption! Just make sure there’s a tray underneath your experiment. This is great fun and kids love to see messy experiments like this, I just think my kids were expecting bangs and explosions from this one based on the title so were slightly underwhelmed but did find it cool to watch.

There is an experiment to make a chocolate slime George, and what child doesn’t love chocolate?
You can make “Granny Float”, (Granny being a ball), by blowing through the plastic pan and watching the ball float above it. This piece of “blowing apparatus” is also used to create Rainbow Bubble Snakes (basically bubbles all over) and this actually had the kids super excited as they love a bit of mess. Thank goodness we wore old clothes as some of these experiments could stain.

I was a little disappointed in the quality of the play tray as it is quite cheap, the kind of plastic you would find inside a game box to separate game pieces. That said, it doesn’t really need to be anything more than a messy play tray so it does the job. The other pieces are decent enough quality and you do get a lot of them inside the box.

This set is targeted at children from aged 8 and over, and as many of the experiments are quite basic I personally would have thought age 7 with adult assistance would be a better starting point, up until maybe 10 or 11 at a push as there are some more challenging instructions. My 10 year old felt that some of them were a bit too quick so I would aim towards the lower end of the target age in order for the child to really have a “wow” moment.
Something that I loved is the scientific explanation that came with each experiment, so that children understand what is happening. It is about both fun and learning, and as a Scientist this makes me very happy.

I’m not sure how much you would play with this kit once the experiments have been carried out once or twice, although equipment can be washed. The 15 experiments would easily be spread out over 3 or 4 play sessions so that’s a few wet weekends covered entertainment wise.

The price-point of £24.99 is possibly inflated slightly, but you expect that as you are paying for the name endorsement as well. Other science kits that we have at home do seem to have at least some of the ingredients included, even if it’s just the food colouring, and will allow you to carry out more experiments. I also felt we were missing some goggles, but perhaps this is because George didn’t wear any!

However it is a great partnership to a fantastic story. I think buying this kit and the book together would be a great idea for Christmas, as my kids are often sad when they have finished a good story and this will extend that joy and add some extra learning in there as well. You could still enjoy this set having not read the book, but it does have more relevance and fun if you have. These experiments are everything that a child wants; bubbles, things bubbling over, mess and colour.

Rating: 4/5 stars

RRP: £24.99

Roald Dahl George’s Marvellous Experiment Kit can be purchased from Smyth Toys here.