Did you know that today (November 8th) is National STEM/STEAM Day, marked by Project Mc2? We were delighted to be chosen as an official STEM/STEAM day blogger and have lots of educational fun, courtesy of the NOV8 girls.
If you're still unfamiliar with Project Mc2, it's a Netflix Original show that follows a group of science and technology-loving girls who are part of a secret government organisation to protect the world. Think James Bond meets Totally Spies, with a hefty dose of Bang Goes The Theory science fun thrown in for good measure ! The series follows McKeyla McAlister (Mc2), a keen writer and sassy eco-warrior, whose catchphrase is “I’m smart. Get over it!”, and her best friends : Adrienne Attoms (A2 - a culinary chemist who loves saying “Pretty Brilliant”), Bryden Bandweth (B2, a #digitaldarling who loves social media and all things techie and whose quirky catch phrase is “Stand Back, I’m Trending”) and Camryn Coyle (C2, a highly intelligent skater girl, who frequently says “Nailed It”). The latest series saw the arrival of two new characters, Devon D’Marco and Ember Evergreen. As well as promoting STEAM subjects and showing that they can be cool, great fun and not just for boys, the show also covers a wide range of important topics, such as cyber-bullying, hacking and the environment.
The NOV8 girls have also been incarnated in a series of dolls, which can be bought with or without experiments. We've already reviewed McKeyla's Light Bulb, McKeyla's Lava Light and Bryden's Bracelet which were all a lot of fun and also made us think about the science behind the snazzy experiments.
One of the coolest things (in my opinion !) about the doll and experiment sets is that you can watch videos on youtube of the Project Mc2 actresses, dressed up exactly like their respective dolls, carrying out the experiments to show you how it's done. This makes it all extra special for any fan of the series.
In honour of #STEAMday, we were sent a fabulous Project Mc2 H2O Car to review. Imagine a Barbie car with attitude and a fun educational lesson as the cherry on top !
As featured in the Netflix series, this funky red car is an eco-friendly option because it is powered by H2O, aka water. If only you could make cars run on water in the real world - it would be better for the planet and everyone's bank balance !
Unlike the usual Barbie versions, the Project Mc2 car invites you to look under the bonnet and think about whar will power the engine. The battery has plus and minus signs to show you which wire to attach where.
No car can run without fuel, even if it is water, so the next step is filling up the squeezy fuel can with water then squirting it into the car's fuel tank. I was very impressed that Juliette remembered the "lesson" that she'd learned when playing with McKeyla's Light Bulb and Bryden's Bracelet and explained that the water completed the circuit because it conducts electricity and that is what makes the car work.
The car is now ready to go and you can use the smiley face remote control to make it go forwards, backwards, turn around or do a 360° spin. Pretty Brilliant, as Adrienne would say ! The car even has headlights that light up.
But that's still not all ! As the car is powered by STEAM and water, you get a cool steam effect coming out of the exhaust pipes.
It has so many cool features to discover that it really does look like the real-life version from the Netflix show. Project Mc2 have a demo video on their youtube channel, showing the car in all its glory in action.
It's a fabulous toy, that is fun to play with and also makes you really think about the science behind it. Once you've exploited the STEAM aspects, young fans can have fun recreating scenes from the show or using their imaginations to create brand new adventures for the NOV8 girls to get involved in ! There is enough space for two dolls to sit inside, but these must be bought separately. If you're buying this as a Christmas present, make sure you stock up on batteries too - it required 6xAA batteries for the car and 3xAA batteries for the remote control and these are not included. Imagine the sad faces around the Christmas tree if you haven't got enough batteries to play with it !
star rating : 4.5/5 (I'm just deducting half a point for the huge amount of batteries required)
RRP ; £59.99
Disclosure ; We received the product in order to write an honest review.
I'm just about to run a STEAM week at my school and just wanted to know where I could get the button badges that I have just seen on your site?
ReplyDeleteDo you mean physical badges or the digital logo at the top of the post? That came from the PR company promoting the dolls that we received to review but I think it's on the Project Mc2 website too
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