Peppermint The Great Treehouse Engineering Adventure

In this story-based STEM kit, Pepper Mint visits her aunt who is a scientist researching primates. She lives in a treehouse in the rainforest on the island of Borneo. The treehouse is not connected to the electrical power grid, but Pepper Mint and her aunt devise mechanical inventions to accomplish various tasks. They equip the treehouse with mechanical equipment using pulleys, winches, and gears, and learn lessons in physics. Projects include a rope ladder, a pulley to lift heavy objects into the treehouse, a rubber-band-powered lift, a rotating palm leaf umbrella, a zipline, a catapult, and a trap door. At the end of the story, Pepper Mint wires up a string of LED lanterns using conductive thread and a battery holder to light up the treehouse in the dark jungle night. While doing this, she learns about electric circuits. The kit includes materials to build the treehouse and do the projects, a full-color illustrated storybook and step-by-step instruction manual, as well as a scale Pepper Mint figurine.

About Thames & Kosmos: Thames & Kosmos was founded in 2001 by a science museum director and her son, who saw the great need and demand for better science education materials — resources for parents and their children that are more engaging, more effective, more relevant, and more fun.