Where Have All the Chemistry Sets Gone??
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I REALLY REALLY wish I had a picture of my first chemistry set. “Back in the day” – a whole 20 years ago, I had the world’s most AWESOME chemistry set. It had about 30 bottles of chemicals and solutions, test tubes, a large rack to hold the chemicals, and an instruction guide FULL of the coolest experiments and how to properly mix the chemicals. It looked similar (but newer) to the pictures I’ve placed in this post. I am SO SO sad that I cannot seem to find anything at all even remotely similar to this today! I suppose in the day of legalities and a sue-happy culture we can no longer have true chemistry kits. The closest thing I could find was this Thames and Kosmos chemistry kit which is no where near the chemistry kit I used to have. Does anyone remember what I’m talking about? Did you have one similar to these shown??
I used to sit in my room for hours….for days really…and create invisible writing, chemical reactions, and all sorts of things that I can barely remember because it was so long ago! I can’t remember what chemicals I actually had in the kit but there were some pretty heavy duty things that kids are no longer allowed to mess with – too dangerous says society. I used to feel like a mad scientist holed up in my room creating all sorts of amazing reactions and learning about science.
I’m not even sure what reminded me of this but now I am saddened that I cannot get something like this for my kids when they are older. That and my microscope were some of my favorite items growing up. (OK – I’m officially a science geek!!) What do you think? Did you have one of these awesome chemistry sets as a kid? Would you buy it for your older kids if they were still available?
Hi there!
I am a beginning teacher and just started blogging. I wanted to follow your blog because it looks like you have some really great and interesting insight!
Anyways, those kinds of science kits you mentioned in your post are stuff I remember doing from those Scholastic book fair buys!
I received that exact same chemestry set for Christmas when I was nine (much to my father's chagrin!) That is the only gift I remember from that year – it was the BEST thing ever. I, too, spent hour upon hour playing scientist.
I can't help but wonder if you could find sets like this in school catalogs or maybe even ThinkGeek. Another one to check periodically is American Science & Surplus. They have constantly changing inventory, so you never know!