Smithsonian Micro Chem XM5000

I purchased this set for my daughter who is deep into science and learning. I have looked at Chemistry sets allover the web and in stores, most of them I found were not very good. I decided on this particular set for its large size and other reviews posted by other parents and students that purchased it. In all I found there reviews to be very accurate on this product. A defenite good buy, and it will proabably be the only Chem set you will have to buy for your budding Mad Scientist, plus all the elements fit neatly into the handy carrying case for easy clean up and storage.

This is the first chemistry set purchased for my 8-year old grandson. He is thrilled with it, and can't wait to try every experiment available. Of course, as with any chemistry set, it does require adult supervision, which is a good thing, and as a side benefit it allows some dad-and-son bonding time without the distraction of a 3-year old brother. I would highly recommend this as a beginner's set for a responsible child.

My 10 year old daughter and husband have been working through the included experiments. This kit is very complete and will last her a few years. It would be nicer with a bit of glass aparatus (its all plastic), but the content is good.

I got this chemistry set as a birthday present (it looks identical) when I was about 10 or so, and I found it to be a very disappointing set. While there is excellent educational potential in the set, I already understood the majority of the concepts presented...which made for a very boring experience when reading through and performing several of the experiments. I would recommend this for younger children as an introduction to natural phenomenon like surface tension, and beyond keeping them from eating the chemicals or spilling some of the dyes on a nice table or carpet, they should have no trouble using it. As for safety, I can personally vouch that nothing happened (beyond the solution turning purple) when I combined every chemical provided in a test tube.

EXCELLENT FOR MY KID, HE LOVES IT FROM THE FIRST MOMENT, A LOT OF DIVERSITY ACTIVITIES ON IT, SAFE. I FULLY RECOMMEND IT.

I was trying to find the name of the exact chemistry set I had when I was a kid, I believe my parents bought me my Smithsonian MicroChem in 1995 or 1996. I loved this toy more than anything. I would spend hours in my backyard, wearing my safety goggles and one of my dad's old white dress shirts, pipetting one thing into another and seeing what resulted. This kit is very complete, and although the directions could be made a little more kid friendly, the experiments included are very fun and educational. This is a real chemistry set, not the kitchen materials stuff they try to pass off on kids these days. Regarding durability, I only threw it out the other week. I found the case in my parents garage and all the chemicals had been used up and many of the other items had gone missing or been drafted into use as household items. So it will stand the test of time.

I bought this for one of my grand daughters. My son is a Physics Phd and his kids will probably have their degrees before they are 12 at this rate. He says that she and his other children are learning a lot about how the physical and chemical world is put together. This set is kept put up until parental supervision is available for explanations and use. It is a great learning tool.

We purchased this chemistry set for our 9 year old daughter for Christmas and she loves it! After we assisted her with the initial set-up of the chemicals, she has been able to perform several experiments on her own (with our supervision) that have been fun and very interesting. She even takes notes on her observations and results in the margins of the pages and is well on her way to meeting her goal of working her way through every experiment in the instruction booklet. The case that it comes in is rigid and sturdy, although not large enough to hold everything easily. So, when it comes time to put everything away, an adult usually has to help. Also, there was no room to hold the instruction book, so we improvised and taped (using double-sided tape) a gallon-sized Ziploc bag to the back of the case. That bag holds the booklet so that it doesn't get seperated from the storage case. Overall, a very good value for a beginners Chemistry Set.