Educational Insights Nancy B's Science Club Black Light Illuminator & Nature's Mysteries Journal

My 9 & 7 year old were fighting over it the first day we got it. They had a great time hiding in the bathroom and using the black light on different objects and seeing which things would glow. The workbook that it comes with, is very well written and easy to follow with tons of interesting facts and really fun activities. I would say about half the activities need the help of an adult, so I thought it was a great way to do something fun and educational together. I like that there is a good balance of things that they can do on their own as well using everyday household items. My daughters were also fascinated by the magic pen and writing secret messages to each other. Overall, we thought it was a great product. I'm always on the hunt for unique birthday gifts for their friends, and I think this would be such a fun gift.

This is an item my granddaughter will enjoy having and using.

We have 2 girls, aged 6 and 4, who were both intrigued by the black light illuminator! They loved using it to examine different items, some on their own, some as proposed by the book included in the package. It was fine for our 6 year old to use the illuminator on her own. However, we made sure an adult was around when our 4 year old participated too to ensure that she never looked into the light. (She was very intrigued by the illuminator too!) They examined all types of objects around our home, and used many of the suggestions in the included Journal. The toy is well made and seems quite durable.

I'm not sure who was more excited to use this - my kids or ME! :) As a teacher and a mom, I love the activity book that came along with the black light and pen. It easily leads you through some interactive learning activities. The journal was great, with a lot of reinforcing STEM/NGSS activities and recording practice. I'm not sure where to get more of the invisible ink pens, but ours was pretty dry by the end of the book. This would make a great gift for a birthday or a fun summer learning activity.

Comes in an easy to open plastic pack, containing 22 page journal (12 different activities with fun facts), blacklight (with 3 LED lights; approx. 5.5" long), instruction guide and an invisible pen. Light worked well; best used in the dark, but can be used even if there's ambient light. My 8 year old daughter immediately started shining the light on different objects and said, "This is fun!" I liked the fact that it has 3 lights, and therefore provides a wider space that it covers. The activity book had some great ideas, from looking at different dollar bills to rocks to different objects. While you have to collect some objects, i.e. rocks or flower, others are more readily available, thus providing projects that one can easily do. There's a plug for the Nancy B Science Club, which also highlighted women in science; I liked the positive female role models, since I have a daughter. The club website looked interesting, so I signed up for the club, as I am always looking for fun learning activities to do at home. Pros: easy to use & activity book was easy to understand; offers ideas beyond writing secret messages (why my daughter wanted it in the first place) providing a fun way to learn about fluorescence and UV lights. Note: requires 2 AA batteries and a screwdriver, although I was able to unscrew it with my fingers.

Doesn't a Black Light Illuminator sound so mysterious? Well it basically makes your little girl (or boy) their own little secret agent! My daughter was obsessed with this from the moment she saw it and yes, she did have to fight off her seven year old brother so it's not just for girls! With a focus on STEM this is great for kids to get those scientific minds working. I love them emphasis on science combined with something that's sure to appeal to all little girls like it did to mine. The black light illuminator will help them uncover things that only glow under the black light! The activity book leads them to uncover things like flowers and bugs and fun activities like encrypting secret codes! It also comes with an invisible pen where they can write secret messages that can only be read by the black light. This is by far my daughter's favorite feature. She did everything in the activity book but the writing in the journal is what she always went back to! My daughter is only six and I do think this is better suited to older children like the 8+ age recommendation. They would probably be more into the science activities than just the pen and black light my daughter became obsessed with! The Black Light Illuminator set is a good one for encouraging STEM and letting little girls have fun while learning!

First of all, we NO idea all the things that you could actually use a black light for...and to see! This was an eye-opening experience for the kids and me! Anything that shows up under a special light is cool :) Not only will the kids have fun checking things out - they will be learning! You don't have to tell them that though ;) We did receive the product for review, all opinions are our own.

I'm a pediatric occupational therapist in a school district and received this toy in exchange for an honest review. I have to say that I was HONESTLY surprised by how many of my clients from age 5-10 years old were motivated to use this toy. As a therapist, I utilize what's meaningful to the child to create functional sensorimotor changes in order to improve their ability to participate in the classroom. With that said, I unfortunately didn't use the journal yet, but I did browse through it and the activities look great. It will definitely keep your little one busy at home. Since there weren't too many rocks on my campus, I hid small rocks that I found on several hike adventures into playdough, and then challenged my kiddos to find it with their vision occluded. After finding at least 5 rocks, they used the illuminator to discover surprising colors that they were unable to see without the illuminator. I then challenged them to write the colors they found with a highlighter, which glowed beautifully under the blacklight. We've also worked on improving their hand writing skills by simply writing on standard paper with the highlighter, and then as a reward, they got to watch it "glow" under the blacklight. My kiddos have termed the illuminator the "Magic Light." What a great way to get kiddos writing!

I gave this product to my 8 and 9 year old daughters one night when we had shut down access to screens. The girls really enjoyed many of the various activities and the pen actually worked exceptionally better than the ones I remember from the science kits in "my day". The light does not come with batteries though which is my only complaint as I had to scour the house for extra ones before they were ready to play. I would highly recommend this toy for a vacation or camping evening activity or late night car ride. In all, I think that my kids played with this toy for about 3 hours.

Great scientific kit for young learners. The notebook provides ample space for kids to write and record their own observations like a true scientist. We liked that the experiments called for materials that can be easily found - from milk to rocks. Definitely the best part of this kit is the invisible ink pen it comes with. My kid also really loved learning how to write in code! I wish it came with protective goggles to help shield the light, since it is really bright. Also, because the light it really bright, the objects being examined all lit up in some way, and sometimes it wasn't clear which items were merely reflecting the light.