DISCLAIMER:  Science Olympiad (SO) gifted one of their Elementary Science Olympiad Signature Kits, Bottle Music, to my family to try out and share my honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.

Science Olympiad (SO) recently released their *New* Signature Elementary Science kits for kids (grades K-6)! We were given the opportunity to check out one of their 10 kits called “Bottle Music”.

What is Science Olympiad?

Science Olympiad is a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) non-profit organization that supports schools and teachers across the country and has been around for more than 35 years.  More than 8,000 teams in all 50 states participate in Science Olympiad tournaments each year, competing in STEM events that test knowledge, skill and teamwork.

The Elementary Science Olympiad (ESO) is a program for kids in grades K-6. Recently ESO introduced signature science kits for home or to use at school. There are ten total kits available and we were given the opportunity to test out the “Bottle Music” kit. The Bottle Music kit explores the topic of sound and how vibrations create the sound we hear in a fun, hands on, and easy to understand way for kids.

What is included in the Signature Kits?

Each kit includes a lesson plan and hands on activities as well as the materials to complete the activities, excluding a few household items. In bottle music, we were provided a lesson plan, hands on activities, as well as materials such as food coloring, boomwhacker tubes, and a boomwhacker tubes music book. I needed to provide 4 glasses, a pencil, and water.

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What are the activities in the “Bottle Music” kit?

The first activity in the bottle music kit was to fill several glasses of water to different levels (we used the provided food coloring to more easily identify the glasses). My children used pencils to hit the glasses and then listened to the differences in sounds between them. They discovered how vibrations and air affected the sound that they heard.

In the second activity, my children were provided boomwhacker tubes to further explore how air and vibrations create various sounds! They were so proud of their ability to look at the provided music book and re-create “Old MacDonald had a farm”! Check out my Instagram page with the image above and SWIPE to see our video!

Would you recommend the Elementary Science Olympiad Signature Kits?

Absolutely! The kit we received was fun, educational, and convenient! All of the information and key materials I needed were available to me in what I received. We also love keeping things simple around here – the set up (and clean up) was a breeze!

As for my tiny scientists, these were their thoughts:

I loved learning about sound and experimenting with it by making my own vibrations on the glasses and the (boomwhacker) tubes!“

My 6 year old

I love music and it was fun to find all the ways to make our own sounds!”

My 3 year old

As you can see, they highly recommend them too!

If you are looking for fun, educational, and convenient science kits to use at home, school, or at an after school program, check out the Elementary Science Olympiad Signature Kits!

If you have older children, check out my post in Northeast Ohio Parent regarding the Science Olympiad’s *New* “MY SO” program too!

-Kristen