We parents hear a great deal about the environment, and many of us make personal lifestyle changes inspired by conservation. Naturally, our children share our interest - “My girls, like many other children today, are very interested in saving energy and keeping the earth clean” - and that common fascination is what makes the Discovery Channel Store Hydro Greenhouse and Solar Science Lab such great parent-child activities.

Given the current media focus on energy (what’s the price of a barrel of oil today?), the Solar Science Lab is a timely introduction to alternative sources. “The kit is very low-tech, with several of the components made out of cardboard and requiring some simple construction. But this is what I actually liked most about it - the fact that it was a toy that was a throwback to things I had when I was growing up, that were simple and required some hands-on participation,” reported one blogger. Another noted how the accompanying literature “discusses different sources of energy - renewable and non-renewable. Within the context of solar energy, they differentiate between direct solar energy, such as what will be used for experiments in this lab, and indirect solar energy, which uses energy collected in plants through photosynthesis.”

While some of the experiments themselves didn’t turn out as expected - “we plugged the solar cell into the motor and attached the small plastic propeller to the front of the motor…[but] we could never get the motor to run” - others were a smashing success: “The Weather in a Casserole Dish activity was great in helping them understand how the circulation between hot and cold areas cause storms and tornadoes. We have had a lot of severe weather lately which has prompted a lot of questions from them about tornadoes.”

And of course, the kids were all fascinated with the incendiary power of the sun: “We couldn’t find a feather so they settled on a dead leaf which burned quickly. A whiff of the smoke brought out my six year old son’s inner pyromania. He spent the rest of the afternoon trying to burn any object he could get his hands on.”

A couple bloggers commented that the price of the Solar Science Lab ($24.95) “seems a little steep for this modest toy,” given that “some of the paper and cardboard pieces aren’t as sturdy as I would like for long-term use.”

But they all recognized the potential for learning inherent in this toy. One used it with her “homeschooling coop of kids ages 4-11 [who] really enjoyed the activities,” and another commented: “I could see this being very useful as a tool to teach my kids ways to responsibly utilize our earth’s resources.”

The Hydro Greenhouse arrived just in time to spark kids’ interest in planting spring gardens. One boy was so excited to get started, he neglected to read the directions:

He pulled out the box and and dumped all the chalky white “growing medium” and everything he could find in the box into the plastic basin. He yelled at me when he finished this. I walked in to find “growing medium” all over my oriental rug, on his clothes and in his hair, as though he’d decided to roll himself in breadcrumbs to get ready to be deep-fried.

“What are you doing?” I demanded.

“I’m starting my garden,” he said proudly. “Only, I don’t know where the seeds are.”

I sat down and started scooping up growing medium off the floor and putting it into the terrarium basin. I picked up the instruction booklet and looked it over, and read “Seeds not included.”

“We have to buy seeds. Did you read the instructions?”

“No. Too many words. I just figured it out myself,” he replied sheepishly.

In this case, some adult supervision made the process go more smoothly. Another blogger - whose kids were equally excited - reported: “We did the basic set up in less than five minutes - the instructions were clear and easily followed. I appreciate that, especially now that my kids are old enough to want to do it all themselves. After spending a good 10 minutes happily raking the growing medium into zen garden-like patterns with the miniature green rake and then patting it smooth with the miniature green shovel, we headed out to the local garden center to buy seeds for the kit.”

How did these gardens grow?  The results ran the gamut from so-so to spectacular to surprise!

One mother had great success at first, but then “I think we must have done something incorrectly. Or maybe I looked at it too long and my black thumb curse took over. The plants have all shriveled away now. It was going so productively and they were looking really good, then very suddenly it all went in reverse really fast.“  She went on to enthuse: “We’ve had a lot of fun even though we weren’t 100% successful.”

Another blogger reported: “Six weeks later, the basil was a veritable bush, with eight or nine leaves…There is now enough basil to make Rigatoni with Sweet Sicilian Sausage, [my son's] favorite dish.”

But it was the third mother’s mystery story that I found most entertaining.  At five weeks, her notes read: “The plastic greenhouse top has been knocked asunder and the sides and swiped a bunch of the little plants out of the growing medium. We replant them as best as we can, and move the greenhouse up higher. My five-year-old disavows any knowledge of the plant mayhem.”

A week later, the mystery was solved: “Catastrophe. Literally. Our little garden lay on its side, with my cat crouching over it, looking drunk. It seems that we planted catnip, instead of the oregano seeds I had help the kids select. Um, whoops!”

So her five-year-old was innocent after all.

In spite of the mix-up with the seeds, she concluded: “The Hydro Greenhouse was a fun, easy project for the kids - as an all-around black-thumbed gardener, I appreciated the easy set-up, and the continuously fed watering system. The growing medium was really pretty cool, and the seedlings seemed to thrive in their little plastic house.”

If you’ve got kids who dig science - or even if they don’t, but they have a tendency to complain of boredom during summer vacation - check out the Solar Science Lab and the Hydro Greenhouse from the Discovery Channel Store.  Just banish the cat outside and keep a fire extinguisher handy.