Uncle Milton Dr. Steve Hunters Paleo Expedition Dino Dig Excavation Kit Scientific Educational Toy

My boys had such a fun time carving out the bones and putting a dinosaur together. It was the cutest thing ever. Just make sure you do it outside on cement because it does make a huge mess even with a little plastic piece of paper thing that they put in there it still makes a huge mess.

Amazing toy! My grandson was fascinated by the process of "digging" for the fossil bones. Really have to place it on a special tray to collect the dust and pieces! Messy!

It's important to realize a few things. This is a one-use toy only, and a 30- to 45-minute time to complete the challenge is typical. Definitely under an hour. In my case, it took 15 minutes to clean up afterward, because I made the mistake of letting her do it indoors. The dinosaur you end up with afterward is very cheap and not something a kid would play with much, so after a couple of days will probably end up in the garbage. As will the "tools" used to excavate the plastic bones and the fake goggles ("not a safety protective device"). Some kids have the patience to painstakingly brush and carefully excavate each individual bone, while others will brutally hack out each piece and then run it under water to dissolve the sand away. As an adult providing the kit, it's much more rewarding to watch the child who is painstaking rather than impatient, because it's absolutely possible to get the bones out in under 5 minutes with a bucket of water...and where's the fun of that? I think it's a joke to consider this toy "educational"---if digging stuff up is educational, just find a sandbox somewhere and hide a few small toys in there and save some money. Your kid is not going to learn about archaeology or dinosaurs from this kit. It is, however, slightly imaginative ("I'm on a dig like a real scientist!") and a little fun ("yay! I see a bone emerging!"). This is the kind of toy I think every kid can enjoy once.

Kids love it but it is messy.

My daughter was excited for this but was quickly disappointed. All cheaply made and it's toddler sized

Fun! Worth it! No complaints

I have toddlers under 5. They both had a playset each and for the first 30 minutes they were having fun "digging". After that, it became boring for them because they didn't get to the bone yet. We did this outside because they get the clay everywhere. I would do this outside if you have small ones because the little play mats do nothing. The clay is hard but easy to chip. Each set had an entire dinosaur in it that you can assemble. It comes with goggles and digging tools. It is a one time use project, but the dinosaur can be taken apart and rebuilt. I think my kids were too young for it. They didn't care to learn about the dinosaur or anything. They just wanted to get to the center of the rock and pull out bones. At one point my son started smashing it on the ground to speed it up. This is definitely something for an older child no younger than 5 and no older than 8. The quality is good, but this is a one time use project so it can be costly. I was not a big fan of this.

The Uncle Milton’s Dr Steve T-Rex Excavation set is honestly more messy than it is educational. That is probably the annoyed parent perspective because the kids (aged 4, 7, & 10) absolutely loved this. And my real vote is that it is a great tool to show how paleontologist work and discuss being careful and meticulous while digging along with learning so fun facts about dinosaurs...but man did this make a mess!The idea is that you work like a paleontologist through the soft rock to find the pieces that make up the T-Rex skeleton. You use the chisels and brushes to chunk off and brush off the sandstone-like plaster.The paleontologist work is the part that the kids love and the parent hates. It gets all over their clothes. And there no way to contain the very fine dust. So absolutely plan on doing this outside and hosing the kids off before allowing them to come inside. The dust is very fine so also have a conversation about avoiding breathing it in. The goggles are a wise addition, but there is only one. If you have two children working on this, consider getting another mask.The resulting fossil skeleton is not that stable or particularly awesome, but after getting it out of the stone the kids get a great deal of accomplishment and display the fossil proudly and do have fond memories of their 4 hours or so of work to dig it out. The handouts have cool facts about the dinosaur to talk about and interact about. It also does a good job of roughly demonstrating what the life of a paleontologist is like.It is fun, I’m giving it 5 stars, with the caveat that you beware of how messy it is. You must plan accordingly.