Product Review: Ology Germ Soap Kit

The Ology: Germ Soap Kit by American Museum of Natural History is a fun and quick science activity. My son is actually excited to wash his hands with germ-shaped soap ;-)

The kit comes with an instruction/information booklet, two soap molds, two blue bars of glycerin soap, 12 inches of red string, two knowledge cards, and two field badges.

The instruction booklet contains fun facts while defining good and bad bacteria with specifics about Ruminococcus and Lactobacillus, the two 'good' germs turned into soap by this Ology kit. As an extra, the booklet tries to communicate that antibacterial soap is no better at cleaning or preventing illness than regular soap, but fails to explain how. Instead it implies the negative impact of antibacterial traces contaminating the water supply and possibly encouraging more dangerous bacterial strains. 

Like I said, this is a very quick activity and easy for all different ages. Just cut up the glycerin into smaller pieces, melt in the microwave (or double-broiler on the stove), pour into the molds, and let set in the fridge or freezer for 5 minutes. The red string gets cut up to become the flagella of the Lactobacillus.

Overall, this is a nice kit, quick and easy, with some fun information. However, the pure glycerin soap has a distinct perfumey smell. Personally, because I am sensitive to smells, I can't wait till these bars are done and we can use the molds with a non-smelly soap. And I'm disappointed the kit didn't explain that it is the mechanical action of hand washing that really cleans our hands. On the other hand, pun intended, it does recommend hand washing at least 4 times a day for 20 seconds and has a hand washing chart.  

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Lactobacillus

Ruminococcus and Lactobacillus

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