Magical Microbes MudWatt STEM Kit: Clean Energy from Mud! | Classic

I thought it was broken, but after a few days our LED started blinking. The kids are having a lot of fun. I love that this is a continuous science project. Once it’s done, it turns into a mud powered clock. We like the comic book levels that are unlocked as the Shewies multiply. The into into building electronics, is a nice start for beginners, a section of the book has a nice picture that explains the banding codes on resistors, though we didn’t use one in the kit, it’s still a nicely condensed graphic we will clip and post on the wall. We do other electronic projects (Snap Circuits, and Arduino) and the timing was perfect. App works nicely, and user friendly, except that you can’t go back and rename your MudWatt, so brainstorm before moving on as it’s now a terrarium of family pets.

Set this thing up 2.5 days ago and we have 4 microwatts! It started blinking after 52 hours. It's the middle of winter in Wisconsin and we dug up frozen marshland mud and gave it a kickstart by placing it in a small bathroom with a little heater. Huge success with my 9 year old STEM loving son!

I bought this for my grandpa who used to work a lot with electricity, but is having more difficulty as he gets older. We used this as a project to do together. We went down to the local lake and found some shallow swampy/marshy areas. It was middle of winter, so the soil was all frozen. We dug up as much as we could and followed the instructions. Only took about 15 minutes to put together. We set it on one of the heating vents to help the soil thaw out (and hopefully allow any microorganisms that had survived to start growing). He called me ecstatic two days later to say he saw the LED flash once. It took another 5 days before the light was flashing regularly. At that time we were able to switch to the clock and he has been displaying it proudly on his table ever since.

This kit includes everything you need to assemble a working MFC - Microbial Fuel Cell. All you have to add is the "fuel" - some damp mud!

An OK product that worked for a short period of time and wasn't quite the wow factor that several people wrote about in previous reviews. I will say that it is simple to set up. It also tied in nicely with our current topic of energy in my classroom. I would have liked for the clock to work in addition to just the LED bulb but maybe the water used didn't have enough active microbes. I am glad that I didn't invest initially in the larger class sets as I would have been really let down.

I bought this for my nephew and I think my brother in law was just as excited about it! Really cool product! My nephew is only 3 so I think maybe some of the concepts were a little out of his reach, but he could certainly understand the part about creating your own mud energy, and what 3 year old doesn't love to play with mud!

The materials and supporting information is extremely well made. Great activity for parents and kids.

This is a fun project for my boys, me as well. My 6 yr old has been watching it since he put it together. I like the fact that it has many stages that you can build on, teaches patience and the understanding that some things , most things, are not instantaneous.