Smithsonian Diggin' Up Dinosaurs T-Rex Plastic Skeleton Set Educational,Fun,Science,Archeological Playset for Kids Age 8 up

My small son (age 5) loves to learn about dinosaurs and paleontology. So, my wife and I decided to order this dino fossil kit and let him have at it by "digging" up the bones. In actuality, this is just a set of small plastic dinosaur bones that are poured at the factory into a combination plaster/rock mix and allowed to harden. The child can then use the included wooden hammer and chisel to slowly break apart the rock to reveal and release the bones. A set of goggles and some instructions are also included. It took my small son about six days of chiseling about 30 minutes each day to fully release the dinosaur skeleton. Although, some wilder children could probably break the whole rock up in about 20 minutes if they really pounded on it (but they might also break the dinosaur skeleton as well). Just make sure that the little ones do not break up the stone over some nice carpet and putting an old towel under the kit might be a good idea as well.I was torn between giving this little kit either 4 or 5 stars. It is fun and it does encourage their curiosity but it is also short lived and a tiny, tiny bit on the cheap side as well. But, for the price I paid ($9), it did provide a nice experience for a small child. For that reason, I am giving the Smithsonian Dino Kit five stars.

Great afternoon project but required a lot of parental assistance. I think it says 8+ and I gave it to my 6-yr old but he was impatient at chipping away so slowly. At first I thought that we were breaking the bones and I was concerned so I took over. Turns out all the bones are in the center of the block and so working on the edges produced a lot of nothing for a long time. It made it that much more exciting when we started to uncover the first bone.The tools it comes with are a joke. We only used the mallet and replaced the other "toy tools" with a screwdriver and a real brush, although the block is very hard and dense and brushing it gets you nowhere.I know I sound very critical of it, but with some proper tools and help, it was a great activity and my son loves his finished product and he even built a little terrarium for him. I would definitely buy again, I wonder if they have other dinosaurs besides T-Rex next time.

I originally bought this for my daughter for Christmas. She instantly loved it and it kept her busy for about an hour. My brother came over for Christmas dinner and him and I sat down to watch my daughter play with this toy. She asked us to help her dig out one of the fragile bones and I took over for awhile. The digging and brushing quickly became addicting. My brother and I kept taking turns and eventually my daughter walked away to play with other toys because, "Mommy and Unkie hijacked the toy." We were busy for about three hours. We just couldn't stop. Cracking the rock and seeing a bone was so fun and it made me realize that this game is great for young kids but also adults in their late 20's, too. It's definitely hard and takes a lot of patience, but it's worth it. We got the T-Rex out and assembled it. It was a little flimsy so we ended up super gluing the bones together and it has been sitting on my daughter's night stand ever since. This is a wonderful toy for Dino lovers!

Firstly, this is an excellent toy to get for a kid (or adult) who enjoys the more tedious affairs of life and loves the feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment. It's a great introduction to paleontology or archeology, and may even awaken the inner explorer.The tools are decent quality, though the chisel showed significant bowing after being hammered multiple times, and the earpieces of the safety glasses became quite uncomfortable to me. Forget about using the brush for anything but future digging after you're finished with this project. The clay the skeleton is encased in is very soft and compliant, easily broken away with little effort. The skeleton itself is made of strong enough material (plastic) that it would take a purposeful attempt to actually break it, so damage done during excavation shouldn't be too much of a worry. Some useful tips if you choose to purchase this product: you can use the box it came in as your work area to keep things clean, just cut the front off and keep the side tabs taped together. If you're having trouble with clay stuck inside smaller parts of the skeleton, you can use the opposite end of the brush to scrape and loosen it. If you want to keep your model, use super or hot glue to stick the parts together more permanently.Unfortunately - and this may or may not be the fault of the company so much as possible warping from the clay - the model is of very poor quality (at least mine was). The pieces fit together awkwardly and the resulting T-rex looks as if it were in a horrible, tragic accident before becoming a fossil, body twisted grotesquely to the point it can't even stand on its own legs. My excitement built up during my diligent digging was cast away upon assembly of this pitiful "trophy." I suppose one could figure out a method of stretching and reshaping the plastic to force it to look presentable, but I found it hardly worth my time. So into the trash it went.Overall it was a pleasant and enlightening experience, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who likes to keep physical mementos of such experiences.

My son and I had a great time with the Diggin' Up Dinosaurs T-Rex. It was so much fun to uncover pieces of the dinosaur and speculate about where the next piece would be found. It took about 2 hours total to get everything dug out--I did not let my son hit it with a hammer like he wanted to. It's great for teaching patience! The one thing that I didn't enjoy (and this is my type-A personality coming out) is that it was really, really messy! If you have a good outdoor area to do this, that would be great. However, it was easy to clean up, and the joy this activity brought to my son was worth the mess! One tip--using a small dropper of water to wet the area you want to work in cuts down on dust, and, I thought, helped move things along a little quicker. FYI--my son is 8. There is no way he could have stuck this out on his own, but he has ADHD, so judge accordingly!