One box, 110 experiments, and a child who suddenly wants to know why.

Clementoni has been making science kits in Recanati, Italy since long before STEM was a word for it, and this is the big one from their Science and Play LAB range. The box front names seven fields it covers: chemistry, physics, natural sciences, optics, botany, aerodynamics and investigation. Inside are the real tools rather than tokens of them, including safety goggles, test tubes in a stand, a funnel, pipettes, spatulas and measuring spoons, a volcano mould, a plant pot with peat pellets and a seed sachet, a pH colour chart, spinning colour discs and tops, bubble wands, optical illusion cards and a fingerprint investigation kit.

The illustrated manual walks a child through each experiment step by step, which is what turns a shelf of equipment into an afternoon. Some of it runs indoors at the kitchen table and some of it wants the garden. Clementoni marks it 8 and up, and this is a real chemistry set, so an adult stays in the room.