Having a 10 year old budding scientist in my home means I am surrounded by all sorts of kits, experiments, gadgets and gizmos. I live in fear of my house exploding! well ok! No maybe that’s an exaggeration, Ryan is not quite ready to be playing with plutonium just yet, but he does love anything to do with science.
His latest gizmo that he has been busy reviewing is a RC illuminated moon which comes from Brainstorm toys. If your reading and also have a young scientist then I highly recommend you take a look at their website for lots of gift ideas.
It’s a medium size box as far as toy products go and inside – The moon and the remote control, along with a guide.
First thoughts were that it does in many ways look like the moons surface with a bumpy, rocky appearance, colours of gray and white and crater marks. Obviously it’s on a much smaller scale.
The moon can be hung on a wall but I was a bit disappointed as no hooks are provided. This is a bit of a let down as I am hopeless at DIY, even smile tasks such as hanging things up and had to try and find the correct screws. The moon has 2 hanging points. One for those in the Northern Hemisphere and the other for the South.
Before hanging it, it needs 4 AA batteries which are not provided. Good job I have a huge drawer full of the things!
The moon is controlled with the remote and can be set to manual or automatic mode as well as sleep. It illuminates with a soft glow and is great for a night light. It will scroll through 12 lunar phases just like the real moon.
Although this moon toy has a flat back, it’s surface is sphere shaped and so when hung on a wall it gives the illusion of a full illuminating sphere.
The phases can be manually scrolled through or left on automatic and it will scroll through each one and repeat.
Sleep button will of course put the moon in sleep mode until any button is pressed to reactivate.
It comes with an auto shut off after 30 minutes of inactivity.
The light is soft and not too bright. It works best when dark and Ryan loves it in his bedroom, especially because of the fact that he can control it with the remote without leaving his bed.
The includes booklet/info guide contains lots of factual information about the moon, including it’s surface, moon landings, light, phases, eclipse and a moon calendar. Well worth a read for the young scientists and handy to keep too should any moon homework or school projects comes their way.
This RC moon would make a fantastic gift. It would be a nice idea to have the wall hook included but never mind. We found one.
It comes with an RRP of £29.99 but Amazon sell it here for £21.67 so as with anything it’s just a case of shopping around for it. It should be available in most good toy shops too.
