New Dinosaur Train Dino Poop kits from Uncle Milton use the engaging characters from the popular PBS Kids show Dinosaur Train to interest children in learning about real scientific topics. From playing with these educational toys, boys and girls can learn about actual dinosaur diets, as well as pretend to be palentologists studying coprolites themselves. Each of these dinosaur science kits is recommended for kid ages 4 and up.
About Dinosaur Train Dino Poop kits
Each of these Uncle Milton science toys for preschoolers comes with a lump of dinosaur dung (or clay Dino Dough) through which kids can dig to discover plastic plants or bones. From unearthing, popping together, and studying these items, children can determine whether the dinosaur that made the poop was a carnivore (eating only meat), an herbivore (eating only plants), or an omnivore (eating both meat and plants). Children can also press the leaves and bones into the clay to make fossil imprints. To keep the clay soft, kids can store it in a plastic tub molded to look like a chunk of rounded dino dung when playtime is over.
Dinosaur Train Dino Poop kit review
We tested the Omnivore Dino Poop kit (unearthing three bones and three plants) and the Carnivore Dino Poop kit (unearthing six bones). The pieces were large enough for our 5-year-old and 3-year-old testers to have no trouble finding them and figuring out how to pop them together. The children also enjoyed pressing the pieces into the clay to make fossil imprints.
The clay dinosaur poop is nicely soft and pliable and a convincingly dunglike color (though, thankfully, not as smelly as real poop would be). The plastic container seals tightly to keep the dough fresh when not in use.
This kit does a great job of transferring the interest kids have in the adventures of Buddy, Tiny, and their friends on Jim Henson's Dinosaur Train television show to a real-life scientific investigation. Parents should be sure to draw children's attention to the questions written on the package of each Dino Poop kit that help boys and girls form a hypothesis about what kind of dinosaur made each poo.
At the same time, moms and dads can also help kids think about how the experience of playing with this toy is similar to and different from the work real scientists do studying animal poop. For example, on the one hand, real coprolites are actually hard rock-like lumps of fossilized dung, not soft blobs like this dough. On the other hand, scientists studying waste from animals alive today really do investigate soft clumps to find out about the diets of modern creatures.
To round out their study of this scientific dinosaur toy and what scientists can learn from animal feces, families may find it useful to read Jurassic Poop: What Dinosaurs (and Others) Left Behind, by Jacob Berkowitz.
We were sent this educational science toy from Uncle Milton for review, but Chicago families can find it for sale locally at places like Toys R Us, where each kit should retail for around $7.99 to $9.99. Other playthings from this line that kids may enjoy include Dinosaur Train Hatchers (eggs out of which kids can hatch their own toy figures) and the Dino Track Discovery Pack (dino footprint cards that teach kids about these prehistoric creatures in a fun and active way).
Children with an interest in dinosaurs and science may also like playing with the Charlie's Playhouse Giant Evolution Timeline Playmat, educational wooden block sets that teach science, and the Learning Resources Primary Science Set.
Read more reviews of educational toys.
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