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.

Maybe. Could also be a stegosaurus, triceratops or something else--that’s part of the fun of paleontological parenthood. Just submerge the 4-1/2” tall ersatz dinosaur egg into cool water and wait 48-72 hours while it cracks like a real egg and the baby dino grows to a be a foot long. If your mother won’t let you skip your bath for a few days (they’re like that, mothers, no scientific discipline), just use any container bigger than a 12” dinosaur.

Behold our version of the gravity-fed sliding woodpecker. Ours is a 1-3/4" standard black woodpecker, not counting his cute red plume, slowly pecking his way down a 16-1/2" tall metal rod. His super-rapid, lifelike pecking action is strangely compelling to adults, and draws belly laughs from toddlers!

Naked squirrels always trouble us. For your instagrammatic pleasure, this 7-3/4" tall laminated squirrel cut-out stands on a folding easel and comes with (39) assorted, reusable vinyl clothing stickers, including tighty whities, pearls, a propeller beanie, sneakers, an argyle sweater and a whole bunch of holiday costumes. Easter bunny with a chain saw, anyone?

But cute. The pangolin is the most illegally trafficked animal in the world, because people think pangolin scales cure diseases. It’s worse than having a rhino horn. They're nice little critters, actually, like armadillos with better armor, and they eat bugs and curl up in a ball when threatened, like so many of us. Our pangolin is 7” long x 3” tall in hard rubber. Football coach alert: this is the perfect mascot looking for a school. “Join us in welcoming the Fighting Pangolins of Northeast Southern Idaho State Teachers' College!”

Or just watch the fishes swim. These plastic models of a Peacock Bass and a Brown Trout actually swim on their own by moving their battery-operated tails back and forth. Eyes move, too. Scales are notched and textured, and both 7” x 2-1/2” swimmers have color gradations with a prismatic shimmer for that realistic fish look. You pick: the green and orange Bass or the silver and gold Trout. You supply (1) “AA” battery per fish.

No need to wait 70 million years anymore. Satisfy your impatient paleontologists with this DIY fossil-making kit. Comes with (2) bags of air-dry clay, (7) acrylic paint colors, a brush and (3) dinosaur figures. Never too early, or late, to learn about fossils.

Our robotic kingii dragon (Chlamydosaurus kingii, or frilled-neck lizard) is better than a puppy because you don't have clean up after it and it won't chew the furniture. This STEM education kit has (2) motors and digital control via IR sensors to activate LED eyes, motorized mouth and pop-out neck frill, plus "Escape" and "Chase" modes, which make it retreat and follow you using IR sensors, respectively. You'll need (4) "AAA" batteries and some patience, as this kit is delightfully challenging. Finished dragon will be 13-1/2" long x 8-1/4" x 5". For ages 10+.

Old MacDonald had a very odd farm. And you can too, with this farmload of (10) baby animals, including a calf, rabbit, piglet, baby chick, duckling, lamb, kid (that's a baby goat, kids), kitten and beagle puppy. All are plastic and approx 1-1/2” long x 1” to 1-1/2” tall, which makes for a scale that's a tad whimsical, with the little chick standing taller than the piglet and the rabbit appearing to outweigh the lamb by a factor of five or six. They're all as cute as the dickens, though.

Know why? Because it’s a Regal Blue Tang, which, for the ichthyologically impaired among you, is a fish. This one’s fuzzy, though. Measures 9” long x 6” tall at the gills, in blue, black and yellow plush. Has some plastic pellets in his belly, too, so he’ll sit up straight. Buy a bunch, make a mobile to hang above your aquarium and entertain your real guppies.