July 10, 2008

Girls And Chemistry Kits

Posted by Rachel Pepling on July 10, 2008 in Chemistry is Everywhere

While getting my daily fix of baby-gadget blogs a few weeks ago, I came across this post over at “droolicious” discussing science kits geared to girls, such as the Spa Science Kit. The poster found such kits patronizing in that they appear to be making chemistry easier for girls, and I wholeheartedly agreed–until I thought about it a little more.

The kit is targeted for nine-year-old girls. Now, if memory serves correctly, nine-year-old girls are starting to get away from the things boys are interested in–slimy, explosive, gross stuff found among traditional kid chemistry-kit fodder–and into the girly things, such as makeup and perfumes and whatnot. Maybe a spa science kit isn’t patronizing, but rather a brilliant way to capture those girls who would forever be lost to chemistry in particular and science in general because they couldn’t find the relevance of it. Who knows–maybe the kit will instill the inspiration needed to create the next generation of flavor and fragrance chemists?

So what say you? Are perfume or spa science kits patronizing, brilliant, or something else entirely?

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