STEM Aqua Booster Ship

This toy was the star of Christmas morning. I bought my kids video games, books, and some science-related toys (such as this), and when Christmas came they abandoned their screen time to play outside with this rocket (in other words: mission accomplished!). With no wind, we were able to get away with launching it from our sidewalk. If there is mild to moderate wind, you will need more space to launch and retrieve it.

It didn't take long for my boys to start experimenting with the water-to-air ratio to try to get a higher-flying rocket. Every time they tried something new I would say "what's your hypothesis?" and they would tell me what they thought was going to happen and we would compare it to what actually happened afterwards. The fun from this thing is infectious and pretty soon neighbors were walking over to see what was going on and cheered when the kids launched it. I took slow-motion videos (I attached images from one of the videos) and we watched them to see what was happening in detail. My kids will launch this thing as many times as I will let them (eventually I have to corral them back inside to wash hands and eat dinner...).

I was browsing before Christmas for my son. I came across this and thought it looked pretty good for the price so I purchased it. This has been an absolute blast to play with. My whole family loves it. It says 90 feet in the air, but it appears to go much higher. I also bought a stomp rocket ( grear gift too, but nowhere near as fun as this) that is claimed to go 200 feet. This thing goes much much higher than the stomp rocket. The key for good height is to put in the right amount of water (just below half) and press the plug in the hole very tight. You will need some sort or air supply. I don't have a bicycle pump so I just used the air compressor from my shop and slowly filed it until it took off. The only negative I can think of is if you don't feel comfortable with the pressure the supplied hose is a bit short, and while sitting in the package it stays coiled around keeping you close to the rocket. All in all its a great purchase.

This water rocket is by far one of the coolest (age appropriate) boy's toys i have seen in a long time. My 8yr old son absolutely loves it and should provide entertainment value to him (and of course myself!) for many years to come! costs nothing to run and maintain as you're only using replenishable items; works with most standard size bottle threads, a little water, and some elbow grease to pump the bicycle tire pump.

I bought this kit after my 6 year old daughter and I built rockets/cars powered by diet Coke and Mentos. The kit includes the air tube, the rubber stopper, the fins and ring to connect them, and a plastic bottle. Many people complain that a rare pump is needed. I agree it was odd that the manufacturer used that type of valve, but luckily for me I have a bike pump that has different attachments. The hose is long enough that you will not get wet during the launch. Upon filling the bottle to the suggested marker (there are three lines on the bottle that can be used to launch the rocket to different heights), I started pumping air into the bottle. Within five to seven pumps the rocket took off, and cleared the height of my four story apartment building easily. The trajectory, assuming you launch it from a flat surface, tends to be straight up and almost straight down. The instructions recommend you avoid places with trees, cars, and powerless, I highly recommend following this as a launch we did that wasn't on a flat surfaced nearly missed a power line on the way back down. As mentioned above, there are different line markings on the bottle. We used these markings to get test the difference of air-to-water ratio in relation to how high the rocket launched (finding the amount of water that produces the best result). I will say this was educational, as I was able to discuss with my daughter pressure, propulsion (at a very basic level), and part of the concept of equilibrium...

This was a fun highlight for my daughter's birthday party. It's simple to assemble and get going. That being said, be sure that when you have small kids around make sure they don't stand too close and are all paying attention.

You don't really need a full bike pump for this. I was able to use a small portable basketball pump (e.g. 12" Dual Action Pump). If you have the stopper sealed tightly, you may need to do about 4-6 full pumps with the pump to get it to finally launch. That being said, if you are using a hand pump, make sure that while pumping it won't pull the bottom of the rocket and knock the rocket over. So if you are having kids do the pumping, I recommend that the parent holds the pump itself in place while the kid pushes the pump handle so there's no chance it will tug on the tubing and knock the rocket over.