Chicago fans of the PBS Kids television show Dinosaur Train will enjoy playing with new science-themed toys from Uncle Milton, including the Dinosaur Train Hatchers! eggs. These slightly silly educational toys allow boys and girls ages 4 and up to hatch their very own versions of Buddy, Tiny, Shiny, and Don from realistic-looking eggs.
About Dinosaur Train Hatchers!
Each of these Uncle Milton science toys for preschoolers begins as a good-sized egg, much larger than a chicken egg and easy for young kids to handle. To make these dinosaur eggs hatch, children submerge them in glasses of room temperature water. (Clear glasses are best so that kids can watch the changes the eggs undergo as the creatures inside crack out.)
Over the next day or two, the Dinosaur Train characters inside each egg swell with water and expand to up to four times their original size, eventually cracking completely out of the shells. Children can then discard the eggshells and hold and play with these large (and somewhat slimy) Dinosaur Train figures until the water evaporates and the toys shrink back to their original sizes. On the plus side, boys and girls can make these toys grow again simply by sticking them in new glasses of water.
Dinosaur Train Hatchers! review
Our five-year-old and three-year-old testers were very excited to stick their eggs into the glasses of water and very much enjoyed pushing each egg underneath the water's surface and watching air bubbles rise out of holes in each egg until the eggs had taken in enough water to sink to the bottom of their glasses. Not that anyone knows what color real dinosaur eggs were, but the shells of these Dinosaur Train eggs were very realistic and rough-feeling, just as one would imagine prehistoric eggs to be.
Our little Tiny and Buddy figures had already begun to peek their heads out of their shells within 12 hours, and within a full 24 hours, even more of their necks and upper bodies could be seen. Because the package said it would take about 24 to 48 hours for our dinosaur figures to crack through the eggs and grow larger, we went ahead and waited a full two days just to see how far they would be able to bust out of their shells on their own. In the end, our young testers did have to peel the last bits of the eggshells away from each Dinosaur Train character, a process they thoroughly enjoyed.
The final Tiny and Buddy figures were a good size to fill a small child's hand. And kids could certainly hold them and use them for imaginative pretend play. That said, because they are basically sponges, they were kind of slimy and wet to touch and might not be fun for long-term handling.
It is nice that kids can continue the cycle of letting these dinosaur figures shrink and grow. That said, the greatest entertainment came from the initial excitement of watching them emerge from the eggshells for the first time.
Overall, the Uncle Milton Dinosaur Train science toys are fun, but not as educational as other toys from this line, such as the Dinosaur Train Dino Poop or the Dino Track Discovery Pack. Hatching their own toy dinosaurs will help kids remember that these prehistoric creatures hatched from eggs, but that is about it.
We received these educational science toys from Uncle Milton for review, but Chicago families can find them for sale locally at places like Toys R Us, where each kit should retail for around $4.99.
Children with an interest in dinosaurs, science, and eggs may also like playing with the Charlie's Playhouse Giant Evolution Timeline Playmat, the Learning Resources Primary Science Set, and the Mould and Paint Glitter Eggs kit.
Read more reviews of educational toys.
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