Product review: Real Bug Digging Kit - Excavate 3 Genuine Specimens. Discover with Dr. Cool

Let me start by saying that kids enjoyed this bug kit. But we were all somewhat surprised by what we found... but that is not necessary a bad thing just a surprising thing. I hope my review will remove the surprise for the parents and leave the fun for the kids.

From the kit description I expected that I would need to do some preparation by berrying the bugs that would arrive in a box shaped like a big green bug. I also expected that the bug themselves would be loose bugs painted with transparent acrylic paint to preserve them, that the kids would be able to touch, move their feet, etc.

I am attaching a collage of 4 photos that I will be referencing in this review.

This kit works a bit different from what I imagined. The green beetle is not a box, it is made of clay and the bugs are embedded within the clay. Photo #1 and #2 show the clay bug top and belly. The bugs themselves are not loose but are inside of acrylic marble. The bugs are quite pretty and colorful. We found a spiny spider, a fortune beetle, and a scorpion. The marbles are small, in Photo #4 I have them next to the ruler. Each one is 5/8 of an inch. The bugs within the marble are 1/2 inch in size. There were three marbles in the clay.

The kit includes a brush, a little chisel, and a magnifying glass. The clay was pretty hard and that little chisel alone was not enough to break it up. After some struggle, I was the one who use a hammer to tap the chisel to break up the clay and find the three little marbles inside. Photo #3 shows the broken up clay beetle after a 2 marbles were found. The kids squealed in delight and made me break up the clay bug into very small pieces as they were hoping to find more marbles hidden within.

Once the marbles were out and washed we sat down with the colorful guide to read more about the insects and study them with a magnifying glass. The information was educational as well as fun and kept the kids interested.

Overall, we enjoyed this kit. My recommendation is to have this bug party with three kids so each one of the kids gets to keep a marble with a bug.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Note: I received a sample bug kit for testing from "Discover with Dr. Cool" to write an honest and unbiased review and I covered both pluses and minuses of my experience in this review.

Product review: Ultimate Geodes Science Kit by Discover with Dr. Cool

Unlike Entomology-based bug kit which was a hit, the Geodes kit was a bit frustrating. 12 year old kids could not open any of the geodes with either of the two methods described in the booklet, and I was able to open just a couple.

I am attaching a collage of two photos that I will be referring to in this review.

Photo #1 shows the entire content of the kit next to the ruler so you can see the relative size of the geodes. The kit includes 15 geodes and eye protection glasses. The kit requires you use your own tools: a hammer and a chisel.

The guide gave us two methods for cracking the geodes: the chisel method and the sock method.

Method 1: Before cracking the geodes the instruction said to score the geodes so they would break along that line. We did not have a chisel and use a big screw and a screw driver to score the stone. Perhaps the lack of the proper chisel explains the difficulty in cracking the geodes. After scoring the geodes we tried tapping them with a screwdriver positioned on the scoring line. Kids could not open any, I was able to crack just a couple. Photo #2 shows the opened geode with white crystals on the inside.

Method 2: Putting a geode into a sock (to prevent small pieces flying around) and hitting it with hammer with more force than method #1. This method did not open any geodes.

My profession I am a scientist. I give credit to doing well in sciences to my parents who played math and science games with me since I was very very young. When I received an offer to test two science kits from Dr. Cool I jumped on that chance. Geodes kit was my first choice, and I was really looking forward to it as I have a fondness for rocks and wanted to share it with the kids. I really thought I would love this kit. However this kit left us somewhat frustrated. We plan to try again with more muscle power present. I wish the kit included a chisel as this is not a common tool like a hammer, and it might have made a difference if we had it.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆