Mad Science of Washington

My son did this program through his Elementary school in Virginia as an after school program. I was the parent volunteer, so I sat in on all of the classes. The instructor for the first class was good, but then things went downhill.
The new instructor brought supplies for an entirely different class, which was geared toward much older kids than the kindergarten/​first graders that they had. They were supposed to build a rocket ship, but there was no engine included – parents were supposed to go to a hobby store to buy that. After visits to three hobby stores with no success,
I contacted Mad Science and was directed to a store in fairfax (40 minutes from us). My husband took our son to the store, where we learned that the launch kit was $ 80.00 and you had to get a special permit from Arlington County in order to launch it. Please try explaining this to a kindergartener.
The remainder of the weekly sessions were at least the correct content, the instructor had very little control over the kids, and was 30 minutes late to the last class, leaving 19 kindergartner/​first grade kids to mill around the classroom waiting. The class was thin on educational content, and each week there seemed to be a snafu (forgotten power cord, something broken, etc).
He was more interested in talking to me on the side about how he is a DJ than interacting with the kids. It was very disappointing.

My son loved the Mad Science program at St. Bernadette. It was well run and he really enjoyed the magic and the take home projects. We’ve also really enjoyed their birthday parties and Montgomery County library programs.

We had a Mad Science birthday party for my seven year old. She picked it up, I was thinking maybe princesses or a teddy bear party, but she was really set as she has seen Mad Science at school. Tony (who was the scientist) came on time to set up and he was really attentive and engaging with the kids. Tony showed several experiments and at the end, the kids made putty and they brought it home. It was an amazing experience to see the kids excited in learning and having fun at the same time. If I have to change something, I would probably ask for more hands on experiments, but overall great!

After participating in several Mad Science after-​school programs at his elementary school, my older son asked if he could have a Mad Science birthday party for his 8^th birthday. He’s been doing the after-​school program since kindergarten (one session each year) and this was his third year doing it. I was a little hesitant at first about the party b/​c it seemed kind of pricey and, while he enjoyed the after-​school programs, they did not seem particularly ‘science-​y”. I guess I’m a little picky b/​c I’m a chemist. The after-​school program is worth the money, but it’s also a small fraction of the birthday party package. Basically I needed the birthday party to be waaaaaaay better than the after-​school program to be worth the money. So we decided to give it a try and it did not disappoint. We purchased the deluxe package, which included an extra dry-​ice demonstration, an extra 30 minutes of scientist time (for a total of 1 hr and 15 minutes), and the goody bags. It was AWESOME!!! My husband was skeptical at first that the kids (mostly 8-y-o’s) would be able to pay attention that long, but the kids were totally captivated from the minute our Mad Scientist started and throughout the whole thing. The only thing I wish they had was a little more kid involvement, but with so many kids, and limited space, I can understand why it’s structured the way it is. My son felt pretty good getting to be the assistant on several «experiments». and our scientist, Jamie, explained everything in a way the kids could understand, but without «dumbing it down». She was really very dynamic and just fantastic. The kids loved her. Parents were telling me afterwards how much their kid loved the party. I would totally do it again for my other kids. It was an absolute hit with everyone.