Last month, ICE member Letterbox Lab held a ‘Marvellous Mixtures Testing Afternoon’ here at Welsh ICE in preparation for their launch early this year so we thought it would be a great opportunity to find out a bit more about their plans!
What is Letterbox Lab?
Letterbox Lab is a science activities subscription box for children aged 6 and up. Every month, a subscriber will receive a science kit through their letterbox with lots of fun science stuff to play with.
A few key features are that there is no commitment, people can unsubscribe or pause their subscription at any point. Letterbox Lab supply everything they will need with the exception of water (everything but the kitchen sink!) and beautiful illustrated instructions featuring their lab assistants Meg and Pico. Over time children will build up a collection of equipment that will be used for later experiments.
Letterbox Lab is the brainchild of Dr Bryan Hatton and Mia Hatton who together, run Hatton Science Communication Limited. They met working at a science centre where they developed exciting shows about science, and trained people to present them in a planetarium, laboratory and theatre.
In 2015, (after bonding over a shared passion for science and all things geeky), the pair married and rather than settling down into ‘normal’ married life, left the UK to adventure around the world on a nine month semi-working honeymoon. (Watch their awesome Friday ICE talk about it here.)
Upon their return to the UK they were inspired to find new ways to make it as easy as possible for everyone to play with science and brought their mission to Wales where they created an all-in-one science subscription box – Letterbox Lab was born.
Describing what aspiring young scientists can expect, Bryan Hatton explained:
“Although the kits are very educational: tying in with what they learn in school and developing general science investigation skills, the first question we ask about anything going in to the boxes is “is it fun?”. We are all about kids playing with science and enjoying themselves. Unlike many STEM engagement organisations we aren’t “trying to make science fun” science is already fun we’re just trying to get that science to families in a simple and economic way.”
The boxes fit through a standard letterbox so you don’t have to wait in for it or go down to the post office
to pick it up.
Some examples of activities that will be in the boxes are colour changing electric slime, rainbow glasses, self-inflating balloons and making catapults and rockets.
Want to play with science?
Letterbox Lab are planning to open up for presales in February and then start actually shipping boxes out in March. You can learn more on their website and make sure you give them a follow on twitter too for their daily fun science facts!
You can sign up for updates about their fun-packed, all-inclusive science subscription box and to be the first to know when they launch right here.
