NOVELTIES

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. Tin and train car colors may vary. You add a "AA" battery and you're the engineer. 

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.

Zivko the Robot is back in stock! 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) “AAA”s for power, which is the least you can do for someone this cute. Ages 10+.

These here selenite wands are quite the specimens. You know selenite? It’s a variety of gypsum, and it’s mighty purdy and crystal-ish. You’ll get a wand of it, somewhere in the 5” to 8” long range, and maybe about a 1/2” on each side. Add a Laser Pointer and have some naturally ocurring fiber optic fun! Whatever else you do with it (besides look at it up close in amazement), is up to you. But you’ll always be able to say, “Want to see my selenite wand?”

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.

Our best and prettiest-ever slices of polished agate, showing concentric rings of natural and dyed colors. The slices range from 3" to 4-1/2" across and from 1/8" to 3/16" thick. We've seen samples from milky white to blue, purple, red, yellow and brown. No two alike, by definition. We'll choose. Think scientific specimens, framed art, coasters, trivets, paperweights, or skipping stones for rich kids who don't want to search the beach for flat stones.

Lovely to look at, delightful to make jewelry out of or placed as shiny companions of small plants. Our (20) piece set of polished gemstones can include: Carnelian, Chrysocolla, Aventurine, Hematite, Lapis, Amazonite, Pyrite, Citrine, Amethyst, Tige Eye, Garnet, Mookaite, Indian Agate, Botswana Agate, White Howlite, Rock Quartz, Apricot Agate, Rose Quartz, Leopardskin Jasper, Blue Lace Agate, Turritella Agate, Yellow Aventurine, Dalmation Jasper or Orange Calcite. All approx 5/8" across.

A bunch of seagulls is a flock, but a bunch of crows is a murder. Hey, we don’t come up with this stuff—blame the ornithologists. If you’re into black crows, and want a murder of them, these rubbery plastic figurines are nicely detailed, and approx 2” x 1” each, in different poses. You’ll get (4) in a handsome 3-1/2” x 2-1/2” x 1-1/2” box with a nest in it. Black crows only—no flocks of seagulls, eagles or yardbirds.

Scientifically speaking. This 8-1/2" x 11" science reference notebook is three-hole punched for inclusion in a binder. From McGraw-Hill, it's heavily illustrated and filled with facts, illustrations and definitions about biology, geology, astronomy, physics and much more. Science! Surplus factor: some may have been packed before the cover ink was dry, leaving a slight speckled pattern that has no effect on the science inside—we checked. And Science is our middle name.

Squeeze this squishy version of the eight-legged tardigrade, aks moss piglet, aka water bear, and it takes up to (9) seconds to slowly morph back into shape while you feel your stress disappear like the cashews in a bowl of mixed nuts. Measures 4-1/2” long in green with the squeezability of a marshmallow. You probably don’t even know you need it, but you’ll know you needed it once you start squeezing it.

Rock hammer with one squared chipping face and one pointy picking face, ideal for prospectors, rock hounds, construction and more. A single piece of forged and polished steel with a molded rubber grip makes this a solid and reliable tool that will last. 10-1/2" long x 6-1/2" across the 20 oz. head, 1-3/4 lbs. total. Well made. Good buy. Good bye!

And we say that with a history of silly that’s virtually unmatched. You slip on this pair of lens-less glasses with the tiny bucket and ball on a string attached, and try, while looking like a demented chipmunk, to swing the little ball on its cord and drop it into the cup. With the classic styled black glasses, blue basket and orange ball, you will be filmed on a smart phone, it will be put on social media, and you will be famous for it for the rest of your life. Best to order a couple so you’re not alone.

This goldenesque rubber chicken can talk! Actually, squawk. Known as the Shrilling Chicken, it’s 11” long, in chicken-skin goldish color, complete with goose bumps, a squish me tag and don't forget the gaping mouth. Squeeze it for hours of humorous, attention-grabbing squawks. Work it into your stand-up routine or sneak it into parties. You’re hilarious!

These gray plastic gargoyles, in creepily authentic detail, are great for cathedral models and graveyard dioramas as long as they’re miniature. Figurines measure about 1” tall. You’ll get (4) of them in an attractive 4” x 3” x 1-1/4” box with a flip-open top and a display window. Great for anyone who wants to add a little goth to a home or office. 

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.

If you're devoted to explosions, and who isn't, you'll love the new expanded 2nd edition of William Gurstelle's Backyard Ballistics, now 25% longer, with 25% more ka-boomery. Still the go-to reference work for building rockets, cannons (carbide and potato), flingers, fire kites, electromagnetic pipe guns, tennis ball mortars, cleaner-bag balloons, ballistic pendula and petards. You simply can't have more fun with common household materials. The soft-cover, 210pp compendium includes detailed and illustrated instructions, parts lists and sensible ways not to be hoist on your own petard. Be careful out there.

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.

Love is not just for valentines day. Tell somebody you love them by giving them a rose quartz crystal. These self-love and healing stones are unpolished and are approx 1-2" in size.