Scientific Explorer Ultimate Bubble Gum Fun Kit

This is not a project for really young children unless the adults are going to do all of the measuring and kneading. The product box comes with 2 pouches of corn syrup, gum base, confectioners sugar, citric acid and several flavorings. You need to have your own food coloring for this activity and you should have a disposable plastic cup. The instructions are clear and easy to follow. My 11 year old was able to do most of this himself, but I did help with measuring the corn syrup (sticky and messy) and I microwaved the gum base. Be sure to have a disposable cup on hand that you can use to microwave the gum base (only about 30 seconds). You use this melted base to mix in the flavoring, food coloring, and citric acid. There are a variety of gum recipes in the instruction manual. One batch of the recipe made about 5 gumball pieces. I believe the box contained five sheets of foil for the gum so you would need to cut up foil if you made any more than just one batch. The gum has to be kneaded for about 15 minutes by hand in order to reach a softer, more gum like consistency. My 11 year old needed to switch off with me when his hands got tired. After the gum is kneaded you can tear it off and then roll into balls. You either roll the gumballs in confectioners sugar or citric acid depending on whether you want it more sweet or sour. After this you put it in the foil wrapper and roll both ends. Instructions say it will stay fresh for two weeks. I do think it was easier to put down wax paper rather than use a paper plate for this. The mess did not extend far beyond the wax paper and it was only the confectioners sugar so it was easy to clean up. My son really enjoyed this and wanted to share it with his teacher after the holiday break. Even though I would give it less stars due to mess and clean-up, I gave it five since he said that is what it should be rated. It is also a good lesson to see just how thick and sticky corn syrup is and explain that it is in candy, soda, etc. so you can really see the damage it could do to your teeth and health. Overall, it was interesting to see how gum is put together/formulated and I now know I NEVER want to work in a gum factory.

My 8 year old son and I were able to make a truck-load (a quadruple batch in a pint sized plastic take-out container) of half-way decent gum with this kit. It was time consuming and the directions are not completely accurate. For example, it took much longer to melt the gum base in the beginning than they stated. We kept nuking it at 20-second intervals until it was workable. We also had to keep reheating it (15 seconds at a time) during the kneading process. When it's warm, it's easier to knead. When it cools and starts getting stiff, reheat it. Other than all the reheating, this kit was a good thing.Note: The corn syrup was crystallized and we ended up using our own. They mentioned this in the instructions and indicated that it could be melted down, but we didn't want to bother with that since we had our own.I was a little nervous about getting this product based on the 1 star review I read here, but my son had already written to Santa. The key to making this work is you have to keep re-heating and see it through to the end. Once you get through the kneading process, and you get all the sugar worked into it, it will turn out as expected. Experience with bread making helped a lot.BTW: A quadruple batch is A LOT OF GUM.

I purchased this for my nephews birthday. He requested a similar kit that a school friend of his had. I'm happy to report that he says this kit is "way more awesome" and "has so many more flavors"! He had a lot of fun making this with his brothers and sisters (there's 5 of them total). Everybody had a few pieces of gum each and there is plenty more to make! I can see this being a great thing to entertain kids at a birthday party. It's not as messy as I thought it would be and a few plastic bowls and spoons is all you need! The kids had fun and felt proud to chew the gum they made themselves! It was also a great sharing experience for my nephew, and he has plenty left to make at a later time!

My daughter is a "gumaholic", if there is such a term. I read some of the reviews about some of the problems, but here is what I found.We made a single batch, and used the exact times specified for microwaving. When you take it out of the microwave, it still looks like little balls. It was only once I poured the water out, did it start to look gummy. I think that is what some of the people on here may not have done, and simply nuked it until it was visually melted in the water.The corn syrup that cam with our kit was fine, but I don't like the way that it is packaged - could have been in a bottle.We did add a little too much food coloring, and it is still under my fingernails from 4 days ago, but it was fun.The flavor lasted as long as any gum I have had, and my daughter being the gum connoisseur that she is, loved it.I would definitely buy this for my friends' children in the future!

I gave this to my nieces (four girls ranging from 2 - 11 years old). They had help from their mom, but they each made some gum the way they liked it. One was SUPER sour because she added the sour powder to the gum and then put some on the outside as well. She was proud of this <g>. They all had fun, they all liked their special gum "recipe", and it was a fun family project.

My 7 year old granddaughter and I made 3 different flavored batches of bubble gum using this kit. We had a great time, it was a little messy but not a problem. The instructions were easy to follow and my granddaughter actually liked kneading the gum. The gum didn't taste that great but for me anyway, that didn't matter. I sent the rest of the kit home with her and she and her mom made even more batches. I would recommend this kit. It was a great time spent with my granddaughter and she was happy and excited to make her own bubblegum.

the mount was great the ascorbic acid over powered the gum flavors so use WAY LESS! Box WAY too huge for what is in it. It would have been nice to have syrup in squeeze bottles rather than packets so its easier to store if not all used as well as measure easier and all the other packets as well it also would make it seem more "scientific"