Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in newark, NJ

Turn your Home into a Mad Science Laboratory

by chefdruck

February 19, 2009

I prefer to do my children's birthday parties at home. Although it's a little more effort to get the house all cleaned up and decorated, we love how the fun lasts so much longer. Some stragglers stay around to play, the balloons are strewn around the house, and the decorations stay up for a few days. If you hire a good entertainer, all you really have to do is serve the food and take pictures of the big moment.

We hired Mad Science for my son's fifth birthday party. Dennis, our Mad Scientist, showed up early to set up his equipment. All we needed to provide him with was a card table and access to warm water to fill a bucket. We cleared the rug out of our living room just to be safe and set the kids up on picnic blankets. Everyone was intrigued by Dennis' boxes of chemicals, beakers, and his brilliant white lab coat. 

Dennis got the kids involved right away by asking them what science was. I was amazed by their articulate responses! He started off by showing them a little magic trick that didn't work to explain that he was not here to show them science, not magic. But his experiments were so amazing, the kids kept whispering that it must be magic, even as they listened to his scientific explanations.

A hard boiled egg made its way in and out of a plastic soda bottle, without it being cut. An evil looking styrofoam witch was melted away by a household chemical. We created tornadoes inside plastic bottles and then raced them. He showed us how Spiderman's webs are made for the movies. And as a grand finale, Dennis filled the room with a fog made from liquid nitrogen. Then he turned each child into a scientist by having them make green slime which they got to take home. I promptly confiscated all slime and handed it to the delighted parents at pick-up. All the children were mesmerized from start to finish, from my two year old to my seven year old, including all of the five year olds in between.

Mad Science birthday parties begin at $225 for fifteen kids and go up for additional children.  The liquid nitrogen fog was an extra charge of $39. Other extras available include a Crazy Cotton Candy Machine, a Rockin's Rocket Launch, and an explosive volcano.

The Gift that Keeps on Giving: Memberships

by Vanessa Druckman

December 16, 2008

This holiday, especially as budgets are so tight, why not consider giving a gift that keeps on giving? Like membership to something your kids, nieces, nephews, or grandkids can use all year? There are many options both in NJ and in NYC that would get them out of the cold and keep them entertained on the weekends. Locally, a gift certificate for Kids U in Paramus will provide your family with a  Read more...