KITS & MODELS

Zivko the Robot. Our best selling STEM kit ever! Just call her (or him--it’s unclear and we don’t like to ask) “Zivko” because “the Robot” is her last name. Using just a screwdriver and side cutters, you build Zivko from this 107-piece S.T.E.M. kit. Set the mode for “Follow Me” or “Explore,” and Zivko will, yes, track you, or evade obstacles, respectively, via an infrared sensor and micro-controller programming. Interactive LEDs and sounds abound. Measures approx 5" x 5-1/2" x 6-1/2" when assembled with all (6) legs. You add (4) “AA”s for power, which is the least you can do for someone this cute. Ages 10+.

Looking to upgrade and build a more advanced robot with more programming options? Try the Tobbie II!   https://www.sciplus.com/tobbie-ii-diy-coding-robot-kit-65185-p

Pop one of these roughly 1-1/4" dia stones into the toe of a sock, smash it with a hammer, and be the first person ever to see your real-as-Nature-makes-it geode!! Ninety percent of them have the familiar beautiful white crystals inside. Formed by volcanic action, they are found all over the world, but ours are from Mexico. There is no way to tell from the outside if they have crystal centers, but we will send you two just to raise your odds, and we haven't had a dud yet in our stores!! Much much more fun and satisfaction than buying one already cracked.

It doesn't get much cooler in the robotic-arm-kit game. The assembled STEM educational arm is 15" tall x 9" long x approx 3-1/2" wide. It's 2-pronged hand opens to 1-3/4", lifts up to 3.5 oz (100g), swings 120 degrees at the wrist, pivots 300 degrees at the elbow, and sits on a base that swings 180 degrees up and down and rotates 270 degrees, like, well, an arm. Controlled by (5) 2-axis joy-sticks and powered by (4) D-Cell batteries that you provide. Includes a hand-mounted search light and over-torque and gear-breakage alarms, which is more than your arm has. Requires a diagonal cutter and Philips screwdriver for assembly of its 200+ pieces and is made for ages 12 and up.

You supply the pot, we'll supply a dozen Venus Fly Trap seeds and a little sack of soil in a 4-3/8" x 2" dia plastic growing tube, plus an instruction sheet on the care and feeding of everyone's favorite meat-eating foliage. Gestation is about (14) weeks, so order early if you're planning a birthday surprise for someone.

Just the one, actually, but it’s been sliced in half so the pair is perfectly symmetrical and mighty pretty. Although ammonites have been extinct for 65,000,000 years, we’ve got their approx 1” dia fossils for you. Our each is a book-matched pair of polished ammonites fossils of a single critter halved and polished to a bright symmetrical shininess. The colors vary from light tan to dark brown and we’ll pick because we have impeccable ammonitical color-shade taste. And yes, they’re just screaming to become cuff-links or earrings.

About 30-40 highly polished stones, all shiny, translucent, or brightly colored, ranging from 3/4" long to 1/8" long. Great for mosaics, jewelry, or aquariums.

Inside this 2” tall plastic terrarium egg you'll find the seeds for growing a Venus flytrap, the hungriest potted plant since Audrey II starred as the worst dental assistant in movie history. Just follow the instructions and maybe stock up on some flies while you think up a name for your new pet, uh…plant.

Why yes, it is. There are three kinds of stunts, actually, in this box of (3) styro stunt gliders, complete with nose pieces and (3) sheets of stick-on numbers and aerial decorations. From Dabble Lab™, which says you'll learn engineering, basic physics and forces of flight. We say you'll have fun flinging them around the back yard.

Based on drawings from Da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus, this Pathfinders catapult kit uses a pair of bent wooden arms as springs to launch clay balls (included) over (4) meters at enemy fortifications (not included, go make your own enemies). The assembled model will be approx 9" tall on a 10" x 7-1/4" base. Made from pre-cut, untreated wood from sustainable forests, and built with pegs for added strength and verisimilitude. A 2013 Creative Child Magazine Top Toy of the Year Winner and a great resource for STEM activities. For ages 12 and up.

Any Star Wars™ fans out there? Our newest Metal Earth model is of Kylo Ren’s Upsilon-class command shuttle. Yes, this is the one many of you have been waiting for since about 30 years after the Battle of Endor. It’s an epic, highly detailed, museum-quality, 3D steel sheet model, and it’ll be about 4” when finished. Then, all you’ll need is a prominent place to display it.

His name is Tobbie II, and although he stands only about 6-7/8” tall, he does sport (6) actual feet, which is why he has such an agile, 360-degree, free-rotation body. You build him yourself (easy-peasy if you’re over 10) and program him on your computer, tablet or smartphone. Comes out of the box pre-programmed with Assembly Checker and Program #1, so the fun starts right away. Use him as a light tracker or thermometer, or to play rock-paper-scissors or bowling, or as a notice board, calculator or compass, or as a pet who will follow you. He’ll do other things, too. Includes a 36-page manual, and all you add is a quartet of “AAA” batteries and some common hand tools.

Everything you need to build a little DC motor is included in this kit (except sandpaper, screwdriver, scissors and, of course, an AA battery). The instructions are simple and explain the theory as well as assembly. Fun and educational for ages 12 and up.

These (7) small gemstones--quartz crystal, amethyst, tiger’s eye, sodalite, aventurine, orange calcite and jasper--are approx 1/2” to 1” and will serve as either geologic specimens, jewelry-making supplies, or help in restoring your harmonious flow of energy depending on how you roll and what you’re into.

Keep your magnetic hematite. Keep it tight! And keep it close because word on the street is, it has potential healing powers, or at least the ability to possibly-maybe boost your mood. At the very least, the specimens we have are great for the fridge or the side of a file cabinet. They have a super-stylish and refined shiny-pewter look, and they’re each about 3/4" to 7/8" x 1/2" thick. Plus, they look super-cool in bunches. Takes about (25) of them to weigh 1 lb, and you’ll get a dozen per order. Never hurts to have some nice, small reliable magnets hanging around--especially these, which won’t lose their pull in your lifetime.

This is an excellent starter kit for learning the rudiments of Chinese brush painting. Includes a lavishly illustrated 47-page instruction booklet, an 11-1/8" x 8-1/8" pad with (36) practice sheets and a few sheets of xuan, the vellum-like paper that brush-painting artists use, plus 5ml tubes of Chinese watercolors in white, indigo, burnt sienna, carmine and gamboge, a saffron color. Also includes (2) brushes, an ink stone and ink stick, all in a nice boxed set.

If you’d like to, too, we have three ways for you: our Go Wild Special is a canister with 1 oz of wildflower seeds in approx (25) varieties chosen to appeal to pollinators and to fill about 150 square feet in USDA zones 3-11, which is pretty much North America; our Here Comes the Sun option has 2.5 oz of sunflower seeds so you can become the food source for birds and baseball players all summer; and our Johnny Sequoiaseed option has (7) sequoia tree seeds per packet, along with 1/2 oz of soil, a small bag of pebbles and a vented canister to get them started so that in approx (83) generations, your progeny will have a tree 36 feet in diameter. Better pick a wide spot in the yard for that one.

That’s the decade when happiness was a pack of warm Shrinky Dinks®. Well, climb into the way-back seat with us and get this DIY Shrinky Dinks® pin kit to make nifty pins to put on your jean jacket. You’ll get (4) 5” x 8” frosted white shrink sheets, (2) 5” x 8” crystal clear sheets, (4) traceable art sheets, a holographic glitter sticker sheet, (8) decal sheets, and (8) pin-backs. Tracing pics include a bike, butterfly, pizza, French fries, panda, boom box and a cassette tape. Includes easy instructions. To really take yourself back to those golden days of the 1970s, ask your mom for permission to use the oven.

The “I Dig It! Fossils” kit was the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio’s Platinum Award winner in 2018, and we think it's still a winner because fossils are really old anyway, and never go out of style. Unlike all the u-dig-’em-up fossil kits out there, this one features real fossils, in multiples. A color manual includes intros to fossils and paleontology, with instructions on making a grid and working slowly with the included metal-tip chisel, weighted hammer/pick and sponge. Fossils include snails and snail aggregate, stony coral, shark teeth and pre-amber resin. From Thames & Kosmos® and for ages 7+, especially those interested in how the pros do it.