Geology Reviews

I bought this product for my 6-year-old daughter. When I first opened the box, I was a little disappointed. I thought it was a little over priced for 2 small bags of powder and some instructions.

On top of that, the "mixture" didn't harden (even after 5 days it still wouldn't harden). So we threw it away and called the company's customer support number on the instructions. They were friendly and helpful. They shipped a new bag via 2 day air to Hawaii for free.

We tried it again, only this time used about 1/3rd the amount of water listed on the instructions and it worked perfectly. My daughter loved it. She created the mold and painted it.

Overall, it's a good product. It allows children to follow instructions and create something rather than simply "play."

Mold of hand turned out really well, could even see the fingerprints and fingernails.

This is an exceptional learning tool for ALL children but an even better tool for those who don't always get it the first time in class. My daughter brought her Science grade up from almost failing to passing with flying colors... Be sure to ck out all subjects you wont be sorry you spent the money. It's fun... Easy to use and most of all it helps to build better study habits early!

An excellent project for your child's school report. We purchased the Velociraptor kit for our 8 year old daughter not knowing what to expect. After opening the package my wife came up with a clever idea of pouring melted chocolate chips it into the dinosaur molds, instead of using the plaster mix. We experimented with white chocolate chips and created realistic looking dinosaur bones! We buried these edible bones in ground up Oreo Cookies. What a thrill to see our daughter's 2nd grade class excavate these delectible prehistoric fossils!

I BOUGHT THIS FOR MY EIGHT YEAR OLD FOR CHRISTMAS WITH A BUNCH OF THE "WHATS POPULAR NOW" TOYS. THIS BY FAR IS THE TOY THAT HAS KEPT HIS ATTENTION FOR MORE THAN A FEW MINUTES. MORE LIKE NEARLY 2 HOURS THE FIRST TIME WE TOOK IT OUT. IT ALSO KEPT MY 6 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER AND THE EVERY ADVENTEROUS 4 YEAR OLD BUSY. I HAD TO KEEP DAD FROM DIGGING AND DUSTING OR ELSE THE KIDS WOULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN A TURN. AFTER FINDING THREE BONES - I TOLD THEM IT WAS TIME TO PUT IT AWAY AND SAVE IT FOR ANOTHER DAY. MY HUSBAND WOULDN'T QUIT FOR ANOTHER 30 MINUTES UNTIL THEY HAD FOUND AND UNEARTHED ONE MORE BONE. THEY HAVE MANY HOURS OF FUN LEFT WHICH IN RETURN WILL GIVE THEM AN ADDED BONUS--NOT ONLY ARE THEY HAVING FUN; BUT ARE LEARNING AT THE SAME TIME!! ONE CONSIDERATION IS THAT IT DOES SAY FOR AGES 8 AND ABOVE, BUT MY 4 YEAR OLD HAD HIS SUN GLASSES ON AND MANAGED QUITE WELL. HIS ONLY PROBLEM WAS GETTING DAD OUT OF THE WAY!!! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

My son (now almost 6) has been a dinosaur fanantic since the age of 2. He knows the names, where they lived, what they ate...you name it, he knows it! Or so we thought, until he got this for Christmas! After having a great time making and painting the "fossil" he read in the manual that each bone has it's own name--so now we're learning those as well! The only problem we have with it is when the smaller pieces get dropped on a hard surface they tend to break pretty easily. They are, however, also fixed easily with a dab of super glue.

I think this book is very good for learning the skills of third grade. The only thing is that I wish it came with a case to hold the cartridge, book and pen in one place like my sister's Smart guide to 1st grade came with.

I'm a little disappointed about the Smart Guide to Third Grade, not because it's not good, but because it doesn't offer much more than the sample book that came with the Quantum Pad. I'm sure that someone who has the LeapPad will get more use out of it, but if I had known that the only major bonuses are in the math section, I would have purchased the Third Grade Math Book instead.

I give this Leap Pad book 3 stars for fun because my children were not interested enough to even look at all the pages.They played with it a lot, but did not get even half way through, maybe that just means it is full of fun stuff to do, but since my kids have not gone back to it, I feel it does not hold their interest quite enough. Educational, 4 stars because some of it seemed a bit simple, like the space page. 5 stars for durability because it is no more and no less durable then regular Leap Pad books. Dont like the eraseable pen though. Must cover it each and every time, even between questions. If it's off more then 5 seconds, it dries out.I peronally did not find it very easy to keep picking up and putting down pens. I tried using a pen in each hand, and it dried out, so I had to keep putting down the regular "pen" to cover up the eraseable pen. Pretty annoying.

Many of you might be familiar with Michael Ende's classic children's novel "The Neverending Story" or 1984 film of the same name. These works portray a race of tall giants, possibly made from stone themselves, who delight in nothing more than the eating of rocks. In one scene, a Rockbiter (as they are known) pedals to the Ivory Tower by stone bicycle only to devour it in a fit of hunger.

Amusing as this might sound, it is pure mythology and bears no relation to the actual world. Rocks, such as the Prospector's Mystery Rock, are almost unfailingly inedible and unpalatable to the human digestive tract. Rock can seriously damage the human body through ingestion, from either physical scraping, piercing, or blockage of passageways of the esophagus all the way down through one's intestines or poisonous chemical leakage. This "rock," a children's educational toy, is an artificially created stone which can be picked away at with supplied "archaeological tools" to reveal even more inedible goodies. These hidden finds include four gemstones, three fossils, and three mineral deposits, all of which should be kept out of the mouth of both finders and related kin. Fossils, like standard rocks, are made out of mineral rather than organic material, and thus apply to the same rules of treatment.

While none of these items themselves contain deadly poisons, consumption of such material is a bad habit to develop. This behavior is often amalgamated under the term "pica" - the compulsion to eat non-foods, especially mineral deposits like rocks or clay. While often seen in small children who "don't know better," the pica obsession is also displayed by pregnant women.

I bought this for my nine year-old daughter. She was excited at first, but after hours of scraping and uncovering nothing, she got a bit frustrated at the slow pace. Also, the plastic tool wore down quickly, slowing things down even more and requiring much more elbow grease! I finally knocked the clay matrix against a hard surface and broke off a good chunk so she could see the objects inside. Then it became much more easy and fun to retrieve the treasures!

My almost 8 year old daughter had a lot of fun with this. Not only did she like digging the items out of the rock but liked washing them off and trying to figure out what the items were and recording the info in the journal and in the end learning about each item. It is messy - lots of dust - but a few newspapers spread out works o.k.

My 5 year old's grandfather bought this for him and the three of us put it together! He could help identify the major pieces but I had to find the pieces that went together for the most part. He loved tapping on the pieces with the little hammer after I would stick them together to make sure they were together. He keeps it in his room and refuses to take it apart. The only downfall is that the legs easily fall off when it tips over and I have to put it back together. Not a big deal! I plan on getting him the T-rex for Christmas this year!

This is a great toy I may take it from my son and put it in my office. It looks vicious, like it's going to walk over and bite at any second. fun to put together and solid as a rock. Cool wood, too. my son won't let it out his room. it took a while to put together but not too long.

I found that this book contained the same type of materials that my son was learning in forth grade. It was very helpful.
This learning toy is kept in our car, which makes it handy on trips.

I searched for a really long time the other night to see if the Quantum books work on the Leap Pad and Pro systems. I never found the answer. I almost ordered the Quantum for my 9-year-old granddaughter but decided to wait. In a discount store I saw the books, and it clearly states on the book that it will work in all Leap Pad systems except My First Leap Pad. What a relief. Saved me $40.

I recently bought this book for my younger sister. She has been struggling in school and these books have been a great help. She loves them so much that our family uses them as an incentive to do better in school. The Smart Guide to Fourth Grade is probably the best book I have seen so far. She had so much fun playing the games like Spelling Stingers that she didn't even realize she was learning. What really amazed me is that after just half an hour with the book my sister was doing fractions! Her teacher hasn't even touched on fractions yet. I know fractions are usually one of the hardest things for children to grasp but she understood it in just a few minutes! The only reason I didn't give the book a five in durability is that the little cartridges that come with the book get lost so easily! I wish leap pad would come out with a storage system for the books and cartridges.

I think this is a great product. It supports my son when he is sitting up and he loves to play with it. I have noticed older children like to curl up with it while watching television. I think this would make a nice gift because it is unique. Unlike most baby toys and products, we will get years of use out of the Activity Dino.

We recently ordered Dino for our 6 month old son, thinking we could use it initially to help him sit up and then later as a fun rough-and-tumble toy. What arrived was a small overstuffed sock with a few "crinkly" spines. The quality of the material was cheap and nasty and the construction is appauling. As for the "roar" of the nose - we could barely hear a squeak. Needless to say, we returned this "toy" immediately. Don't waste your money - a pillow with a decorative face would be just as good and at least the cover would be washable ! AWFUL !!!!!

My mother-in-law bought this for my son when he was a few months old. I never imagined he would love it as much as he does. When he was 3 or 4 months old it helped prop him up and he would look at it and pat it. Now, at 7 months he wrestles with it and plays with the spines on the back to hear the different noises. He loves the crinkly and shiny fabric. He tries to squeeze the nose which makes a great roaring sound. His eyes light up every time he sees dino!!!

This box of dinosaurs is great! My son and I play together with them for hours. He's learning what kind of diosaurs they are and you can see his imagination going wild every time he opens the box! The box is handy because you can take it with you wherever you feel like having some prehistoric fun. Not for kids under 3 as there are alot of small pieces. Definately a good buy for little ones that love dinosaurs!

THis toy was great, but basically the same as the Animal Planet Dinosaur playland. My son loved both of them. The other review here said it was just an empty box!!! Boy is she wrong. My box is packed full of fun dinosaurs! My 3 year old is in heaven!

My son has tons and tons of fun with the dino box. He stands on it, pushes it across the carpet, opens it up and looks for treasure, even hides in it. However he couldn't understand why, when he first opened it, there were no dinosaurs inside. I had to explain to him that it was just a dino box. He loves it anyways.

THE PRO'S TO THIS TOY IS THAT IT'S FUN AND NOT SOMETHING YOU'RE GOING TO FIND AT MOST STORES DOWNTOWN. IT'S UNUSUAL. THAT'S A REAL PLUS TO A TYPICAL CRAFT LOVING KID. MY 12 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER HAD A BLAST CREATING A FOUNTAIN SHE DEEMED TO BE UNIQUE. THE PROBLEM (OR CONS) ARE THAT THE PAINTS THAT CAME WITH THE PROJECT WERE DRY AND HARD AS ROCKS. WE COULD'NT GET THEM TO THE PROPER LIQUID CONSISTENCY NO MATTER WHAT WE DID. EVEN HAD WE BEEN ABLE, THERE'S NO WAY THE TINY AMOUNT OF PAINT THAT COMES WITH THIS KIT IS ADEQUATE FOR THE JOB. WE HAD TO BUY PAINTS, AND IT WAS NO EASY TASK FINDING SOME THAT WERE SUITABLE TO THE TASK.
OTHER CONS WERE THAT THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH ROCKS IN THE KIT TO ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING EVEN CLOSE TO THE PICTURE ON THE BOX AND WHEN THE FOUNTAIN IS ALL PUT TOGEATHER, THERE'S MORE NOISE FROM THE PUMP THAN FROM THE WATER, WHICH DOES MORE TRICKLING THAN ACTUAL FLOWING...
THE IDEA IS AWESOME, BUT THE PRODUCT NEEDS A LITTLE WORK AND IMPROVEMENT. IF YOU DONT MIND BUYING PAINT AND A FEW EXTRAS, AND MAYBE EXPERIMENTING WITH THE PUMP, IT'S A FUN AND WORTHY PROJECT AND I THINK THAT MOST CRAFT LOVERS WILL ENJOY IT.

I bought this for my niece at age 11. She was able to paint and assemble the kit by herself. She needed a tiny bit of help with one of the wires that connects the battery.

She enjoyed putting it together, but when we added the rocks, it looked very bare. There definitely were not enough rocks.

Luckily we have a collection of "finds" from the beach including beach class, stones, shells, etc, which we used to decorate it.

Unfortunately my sister, after a few months decided that she didn't want the water sitting in their living room where it was waiting to spill on their new leather furniture.

I'd have to say that if you like the idea, the kit alone isn't enough. I'd recommend a nature walk for pretty stones first.

This toy was great for me (an adult), but I'm not sure an 8 year old would have the patience for it.

A couple of tips: 1) Read the directions through before starting. 2) Don't confuse the white paint with the contact cement. 3) Save a little of the brown and black paint to reapply over the white paint if it gets too light.

A couple of flaws: 1) There aren't enough rocks to make the waterfall look like the pictures on the box. 2) The pump works fine, does not leak or anything, but the sound you hear when it is on is primarily the motor running, not gurgling water. (This is lessened when you take the cover off of the motor, so perhaps playing with the wire positioning, etc., would reduce the motor noise.)

However, I *LOVED* putting this together and am satisfied with the results.