Start a New Hobby After School With These Activity Kits

How old do you have to be to apply for an engineering job at NASA? While your kid waits, they can practice their skills and keep them up to date with this NASA Lunar Lander Construction Kit. When fully put together, the DIY lunar lander will move just like the real thing — minus the jet-propelled flying. 

Picture this: 20 or 30 years from now, when your kid is accepting the Oscar for best director, ("I'd like to thank my parents..."), they can say it all began with the LEGO Make Your Own Movie kit. Help them hit the set after school and learn how to make movie magic happen, just on a smaller scale. They'll be making their way through the guide to film ten mini-movies starring their favorite LEGO characters. As they get further into the process, they'll learn all about lighting, sound, and camera angles. They'll quickly be ready to move on to the next level — a live-action film starring the dog!

Most makeup starts with a touch of science. Future cosmetologists can see it for themselves when they mix and match the five different fruity scents with the bold and bright colors to make their very own collection of lip balms. The mixture from the lip balm transforms into different shades of red and pink depending on the pH balance in their lips. It's basically a real-life science experiment every time they apply a new coat — and they'll never have to worry about a shade not matching their outfit again!

Sure, they could have a simple PB&J or a quick cheese quesadilla when they get home from school, OR they could go the extra mile and make some homemade bagels to dig into after a long day of learning. These bagels aren't just plain old boring bagels either. They've got everything your kid could want on them — seriously, they're everything bagels.

Spice up their activities after school with a homemade hot sauce kit. The kit comes with everything they'll need to make the sauce, they'll just need the peppers. They can experiment with different flavors and play around with the spice levels — just keep some milk and bread nearby in case things get too spicy. When they've perfected the sauce, encourage them to try them out on some chicken wings and host their own episode of Hot Ones.

If they're constantly begging for a pet, give this a sourdough bread-making kit a try instead. Confused? Hear me out! Having a successful sourdough starter is a lot like taking care of a pet: it needs to be fed, given it a nice home, and kept track of on the daily...pretty much just like a pet. Let your kid take on the challenge and test out the theory with the Farm Steady Sourdough Bread Making Kit. If all goes well, you'll end up with endless supply of bread — and maybe even a dog along the way. 

Just because the leaves are falling off the trees doesn't mean the gardening has to stop. Your kid can take the garden inside the house and bring a little bit of the summer sunshine with them all winter with the Chemistry Terrarium Kit. By the time the warm weather rolls around, they'll have two very green thumbs from taking care of the terrarium.