Or the Swanee whistle. Whatever you call it, this little slide whistle (just consider it the smallest trombone in the universe) has an outsized musical history. No elevator has ever fallen in a cartoon without its accompaniment, and no jug band is complete without one, but Louis Armstrong also played one on his Hot Five recordings, and Ravel even required one in an opera score. In assorted plastic colors with a steel slide, 6-7/8" long x 1/2" dia.

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.

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.

More fun than a canned ham, this flip-top storage tin has a train set inside, with a plastic steam engine, tender, boxcar and caboose, as well as a 12-piece track that forms a 10" x 22" oval. You add a "AA" battery and you're the engineer. 

Lovely to look at, delightful to make jewelry out of. Our (25) piece set of polished gemstones includes: amethyst; howlite; tiger eye; hematite; amazonite; carnelian; sodalite; turqurenite; plain and rose quartz; rhodonite; unakite; snowflake obsidian; orange calcite; lemon jade; four varieties of jasper (serpentine; red, brecciated, picture and blue dalmation); and more. All approx 5/8" across.

These pretty, and pretty small, polished semiprecious stones include sodalite, tiger eye, quartz crystal, aventurine, amethyst, red jasper, fluorite, and rose quartz, plus a bonus assortment. You’ll get approx 1/2 oz of each in small corked bottles, 7/8” dia x 1-1/2” tall. The semiprecious pebbles are roughly 1/8” to 3/8” long.

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.

And more. This accessory kit for smart phones (works with iPhone, Samsung, HTC, iPad, tablets and many others) has a 2” long clip-on bracket with screw-in macro, wide-angle and fish-eye lenses. Paul loves his kit and he’s our optics expert. Use the macro for insects, coins and diamonds. Fish-eye and wide-angle for great visual effects. Includes a little pouch to carry it all in, and tiny lens caps.

Note: Two lenses come threaded together to conserve space. 

Spin the ribbed 7" handle of this hand-powered prop between your palms, and watch it take off. (If it lands instead of flying off into the wild blue yonder, reverse the spin!) Neon handle, bright, metallic-flaked 8" propeller, and a lift so high we imprinted it with our logo - the airborne Jarvis. It's all plastic, and won't decapitate anyone, but it's still for 10-year-olds and up.

is best done with the sacred mother of all novelty items, the original Whoopee Cushion. Marlon Brando owned one. Of course he did, they're both American classics, except the cushion was born in Toronto. Ours is the classic 8" version.

There's optical science and high school physics, and then there's making pretty colors with this little 4-1/2" x about 1" acrylic prism. It makes the same rainbows that the beveled edges on the glass in the French doors to your grandmother's living room used to make on the floor in the afternoon while she was making supper. If you had a grandmother with French doors with beveled glass, who made you supper. If not, you'd better buy this prism or you won't have anything to remember after she's gone.

No, it doesn't; it runs out. See for yourself with this hourglass full of iron filings. The steel base has a magnet, so time flies when the glass is on it, and the filings make pretty stalagmites. Stick a magnet on the neck, however, and you can stop time altogether. Glass is 5-1/2" tall on the base and filings run out in about 40 seconds (three trips make a two-minute egg) with the magnet, somewhat longer without it.

Actually, it's a set of (36) different little polished gemstones and minerals from around the world, all identical sizes (1/2" x 3/8" x 1/8" thick), mounted and identified by name and origin on an 8" x 10" card. Super nice at a super price, for teachers, designers or jewelry makers. The set includes amazonite, amethyst, aventurine, black obsidian, blue lace agate, buttermilk jasper, carnelian, Dalmatian dacite, dumortierite, fancy jasper, fluorite, gold stone, hematite, howlite, jadeite, lapis, leopard skin jasper, mahogany,obsidian, moss agate, nephrite, Picasso jasper, orange calcite, picture jasper, rainbow jasper, rose quartz, rhodonite, rock crystal, rhyolite, red jasper, snowflake obsidian, sodalite, serpentine, tiger eye stone, turquoise and unakite.

Our each is tub of glitter putty, born at the confluence of silly putty and Ziggy Stardust, with (3) distinct layers of glittery gloop, which Paul, our VP for Gloop Nomenclatura, assures us are heliotrope, apple green and public swimming pool blue. Also smells like Dippity Do, but don’t put it in your hair. You’ll get 4-1/2 ounces, which is more than your mother would like you to have.

Grow your own velociraptor? No, silly, this Dinosaur Plant is so-called because it’s 200 million years old. (OK, not this one, but ones just like it.) Looks like a ball of dead weeds, but add a little water and it will uncurl, turn green and start to grow again in a few hours, even after being dormant for months. You’ll get one plant, a bowl and some genuine lava-rock gravel.

Forget that the 6-3/4" long body is festooned with Latin phrases and old maps. The stones/beads/glass inside the tube would make designing windows in cathedrals a snap. And hey, that's good work if you can get it. A nice gift for Rosetta window fans, and a must for that special bishop in your life.

Managing people will be so much easier with this pocket sized red NO! button on your keychain. Push it and hear a digital voice deliver (10) different versions of no, including No!; No, No, No; Noooooo; For the last time, NO!; and more. Great for denying tasks at work, and later-bedtime requests at home. (Remember--you can always change your mind to Yes, but going the other way never works.) Measures 1-3/4"" dia. x 1" tall in red with a black frame. Batteries included!

Because no home is complete without a furry, radio-controlled spider as big as your head. In authentic black and brown fur, this GIANT RC tarantula is approx 10” wide x 9” long (6" long body) and will move left/right/backward/forward and randomly, not unlike the real thing. Has blue LEDs for eyes, which is an improvement on nature. You add a 9V for the remote and (4) “AA” batteries for the arachnid.