This turned out to be some pretty cool software. It’s not so much a general science toy as there aren’t really any ‘games’ on it. It’s much more of an educational-type encyclopedia of dinosaurs. There are several sections of the software that would be of interest to any budding dinosaur enthusiast. What I liked best was the dinosaur “family tree” which gave a pretty clear explanation of what led to what on the evolutaionary time scale. The extinction theories were also interesting. The dinosaur “mix and match” was the closest thing to a game this software offered but it was still mostly just an exercise that lets kids put different heads and body parts on different dinosaurs. Not too educational, but kind of fun.

The kit does come with a small Triceratops model but if you’re buying this, you’re buying it for the Dino Tracker CD Rom. For about $19 U.S., it’s a pretty good value. It says it’s for ages 5 and up, but I’d put it in the range of maybe 5-9 years old with it being about perfect for a kid about 6-8. Much younger than that and they won’t really learn too much, and much older than 9 and they might be a little bored with it.

This is one of my favorite microscopes from C&A Scientific. They’ve upgraded their popular “My First Lab” Microscope to the “Ultimate” educational tool! The same great optics are now even more versatile on a new base with a rechargeable battery light source. The detachable AC power cord can be used to power the light or recharge the battery for portable use in the field. Battery lasts for hours and can be recharged hundreds of times for years of valuable scientific research. I think this is one of the best selling toys of 2008 at Atomic Elephant Toy.

Features:

-Real optical glass lenses
-10X Widefield eyepiece with pointer
-3 Achromatic objective lenses: 4X, 10X & 40X Power
-Magnification from 40X to 400X
-90mm x 90mm Stage with clips
-6 Hole disc diaphragm
-Coarse focus, easy grip knob
-20W equivalent lamp
-Built in rechargeable battery & detachable AC power cord
-Sturdy all-metal construction
-Vinyl dust cover and Instruction manual
-Five prepared glass slides
-One year limited warranty
-Overall size: 4″ x 6″ x 11″ H. N. W.: 3 lbs.
-Box size: 8″ x 6″ x 13″

Posted by: The Science Guy for the 10 deadliest insects in the world. Check them out!

This is one of the best dinosaur toys that I’ve reviewed in a while. Kids get to put together a skeleton of the great Tyrannosaurus Rex, and after that they put on its outer plastic “skin.” It comes with a display case that actually has some lights and makes dinosaur roaring sounds. A nice little touch I thought. The dinosaur book it comes with was okay, but the DVD was fairly cool.

Overall, I thought this was one of the cooler science toys I’ve played with in a while. While it didn’t make any lists of the best selling toys of 2008, my son and I had a good time putting it together and displaying it on the shelf in his room.

Made by Tedco Toys, this is another one of the great science kits in their Ein-O Science Smart Boxes series. The experiments in this one have kids examining rocks and semi-precious stones. I’ve never understood what semi-precious means but I’m guessing it just means it doesn’t come with any rubies or sapphires. It’s also got a cross-sectional model of the Earth’s crust where kids can explore the geologic details from the mountains to the river beds. It comes with a map about rain forests and the  greatest part in this kit is the Ein-O “I know” science guide. These really are top-notch educational toys and the  entire line of Ein-O science  kits has long been a favorite of mine.

Like the rest of the Smart Box series, this retails for about $12 US but the educational value far exceeds the price tag. Overall, the Ein-O Science Geo Kit is a great little toy.