BEST SELLERS

The secret is in the gears. This 185-piece kit from UGEARS® assembles in 2-3 hours without glue or tools, and results in an 8-compartment box. Opening the lid activates (3) main blocks to the side and front. A third block moves a lower drawer with (6) compartments, while a secret button on the back opens (2) secret compartments. Includes a locking latch. No doubt about it—this box is fancy, festooned with myriad floral and ornamental design elements. Completed box will measure approx 11” x 8-3/4” x 8”. Made in Ukraine. For ages 14+.

Crystals are for pointing toward you or away from you, depending on what you believe or want, or for polishing, or just for looking at. You get a 3-pack of quartz point crystals, approx 1" to 2-1/2" long, ready for psychic healing, jewelry, or plain old-fashioned lapidarian fascination. Your hunks of point crystal might have an actual point, might not: nature's like that.

It's a mug's game, but this package of (4) giant scratch-and-reveal Magic Unicorn and Magic Bird cards are all winners. And no, NBA fans—they’re not related to the two guys who revitalized the league in the 1980s. And yes, everyone else--all unicorns are indeed magic. Precut in the shapes of birds and unicorns, the cards are approx 4-5/8” x 6-1/2”. The Bird kit comes with (4) striped pipe-cleaner chenille stems (for making their legs, of course), and both kits come with a scratch stick and an illustration sheet to show you how to scratch lines and designs to reveal the hidden colors.

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!

Fun little plastic farm set with a vaguely retro-Euro look. Comes complete with a farmer, a farmer's wife and a farmer's daughter, all 2" tall, along with (3) chickens, (3) geese, (3) rabbits, (4) cows and (6) pigs. The barn is 2-1/4" tall x 3-1/4" x 2". Includes barn doors, fencing and a feed trough.

Or maybe not. Hotel managers get funny about rocket launches, but this is NASA-level fun for the backyard, or maybe a cheap motel parking lot. The Stomp Rocket™ uses no batteries, fuel, diet cola or anything else but your feet. And good stomp on the 4" X 8" "Blast Pad" can get you 200 feet of lift at speeds up to 100mph. You get (4) bright yellow plastic rockets, 9" long x 7/8" dia, with soft, round nose cones (bulbs?) for safety's sake, and a tripod gantry. Fine adjustments even allow for accuracy contests. If the neighbors have really high roofs, or you manage to achieve orbit, we've got a (2) pack of replacement rockets. For ages 6+.

We’d start with triops, lovely little crustacean-ettes with compound eyes that have been around since Triassic days. You pick the Ghost Triops, see-through honeys, or the larger Gigantic Triops, the biggest of the triops which is gigantic among lesser beasts. In both cases you get eggs, baby and adult food, and a pipette. You add a bright light source, bottled natural spring water and a small tank. They hatch in a day or three, are full grown in a month or so, and have a life-cycle of up to 90 days.  Ages 8+.

Simple, yet clever 1" dia. by 3" long plastic device to demonstrate the vortex effect of a tornado. Partially fill with water one of the two half-gallon size plastic soda bottles which you supply. Screw the bottles into opposite ends of the tube which we supply. Tip so the full bottle is on top and give it a circular starting whirl. Presto! You have a vortex. Call it a tornado if you're a meteorologist, a Charybdis if you're a classicist, or a whirlpool if you're into oceanography. Lots of fun and a fine opportunity to attempt to explain the effects of the earth's rotation on water draining out of a bathtub. The phenomena are related we're told, but good luck!!

Shoot one of these little plastic arrow-helicopter-rotor gismos straight up with the included rubber band launcher and watch it soar as far as 300 feet! A fun outdoor toy that grows in sophistication as you learn how to adjust the arrowcopter for wind conditions and flight patterns: distance, return, circular descent etc. Our "each" contains a package of two (2). Recommended for kids over the age of 9.

The budding home scientist and horticulturist will both delight in the ease with which this self-contained soil test kit brings discovery. The kit measures not only ph., but also Nitrogen, Phosphate and Potash content and contains material for 40 tests. Since these are the essential ingredients affecting plant nutrition, we see a science project in the making: experimental plant growth in soils with different amounts of acidity and/or nutrients. From Luster Leaf(tm), the kit is entirely self-contained and includes complete instructions for use and explanations. Be careful, please, the kit does have chemicals and should not be used by young children without supervision.

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.

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.

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.

Sort of like kleenex, because cellophane used to be trademarked but isn’t any longer so you can now say cellophane all you like. Cellophane, cellophane, cellophane. You’ll get (48) sheets of 12” square cellophane, a dozen each in red, yellow, green and blue, for teaching kids color mixing. But feel free to use them for anything. Includes instructions for making your own color paddle.

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.

Sunprints (or cyanotypes, or photograms) are everyone's favorite photo-sensitivity experiment, from third-graders to graphic artists and fine artists. You pick: The Sunprinters are a dozen 3-15/16" square sheets of photosensitive paper, an acrylic backing sheet and instructions. The large Sunprint Kit has (15) sheets of 12" x 7-3/4" photosensitive paper plus a clear acrylic sheet of the same size. Great for classroom demonstrations, and can be used to make prints from photo negatives as well as interesting effects from opaque or translucent objects. All you add is sunshine and water.

You could furnish her bedroom with this 9-piece dollhouse furniture set. The resin Queen Anne Bedroom set includes a side chair, dresser, bed with curtain backdrop, love seat, easy chair, flower pot, dressing table and more. The box doubles as the room, with a cardboard rug, which could be a tad warped, but Queen Anne's been gone for quite a while now, and things like that are to be expected.

A Classic 6" x 8-1/2" x 3/8" Ant Farm. The ants will live between two parallel sheets of clear plastic and you will be able to watch them build their tunnels and chambers. Complete with sand and instruction booklet on the care, feeding watering and watching of your pet ants. Stands upright on its own base and includes an escape proof cover. Assuming you want live pets, you just order them online using the included code and weather permitting, the ant man will ship a small vial of the little critters straight to you. Comes with clear plastic tubing to create your own runways or buy multiples and connect them for your very own ant city.