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Anyone have a recommendation for one of these for my DS6? He's done your basic baking soda/vinegar, ID an acid and base, grow crystals stuff and wants more. He's been circling them in toy catalogs but nothing seems terribly well reviewed. I'm not too concerned about an upper age limit (I mean, not high school level). Please don't tell me to seek out materials and assemble one.

Snap circuits?

I second Snap Circuits although my DS8 wasn't as "in" to them as I had hoped. Many kids love them. We're going to try Little Bits this year because we think that they might be more free form/ creative.
That has always been an issue with choosing science/building/logic toys for my DS. He's big on doing his own thing, and not much for following a comprehensive set of directions. I mention this because science kits like Snap Circuits are expensive and it was a bummer when he wasn't very interested.
For building, we're getting the Zome tool creator 3. I don't know how well it would work for smaller hands, but I expect to get a lot of mileage out if over break.
https://www.fatbraintoys.com/toy_companies/zometool/zome_tool_creator_3.cfm

He loves Snap Circuits but I don't feel we need another set at this time....

Have you looked at the Steve Spangler kits? We got the 3-month summer subscription, and my kids (7/9) enjoyed them. Some of the items were a little gimmicky, but I liked that each box had a theme with multiple experiments.

DD7 has enjoyed getting ladybug, butterfly, and ant farms as gifts. They don't have the same instant gratification as a chemistry set, of course.

Looking at Steve Spangler now--thanks. Is Magic Schoolbus going to be too basic? I think we need to not do chemistry as the one we already have seems to be similar to everything else out there, at least until you get into much more serious and expensive kits.

There are always the "build your own electromagnet" or "build your own electric motor" kind of kits. We did an electromagnet kid that was kind of cool (my kid is 4 so I did most of the coiling). (and you can get kid sized safety eye wear pretty cheaply too).

Have you checked out Thames and Kosmos on amazon? DS got the chemistry 2000 set for his 8th birthday (I think it's 11and up). He needs his papa for the experiments but loves just reading the booklet! And his father has expressed his satisfaction with my choice ( I always. Get to do the research, he gets to quibble). He's also got the basic electronics set, and loved it too. They all seem pretty well reviewed, so you could just head over there and look what strikes your fancy and blow out the money...

Yes, I did look at Thames and Kosmos and was hoping for some reviews!

Portia--We actually only have one "science experiment kit," but it was pretty good and contained a number of experiments. I think he's done just about all of them. He also has a dedicated science teacher and lab at his school, so he gets some of the typical kid experiment experience there. And then we do have Snap Circuits, but that's all.

He circled a lot of different ones, but more earth science and chemistry than robotics or physics. I would say that he is more of a directions-follower and info-absorber regarding things like this at this point than a kid who is thinking outside the box with it.