Excavate a dinosaur! ~ GeoSafari & Hot Dots Jr.

It’s September, and all the kiddos are back in school! And I’ve got some great items to help them learn, from Educational Insights! I’m so happy to be sharing more of their awesome products.

First up, for the younger ones. You’ll remember I told you about the fun color activity cards from Hot Dots, Jr. last month? Well, this month I got to try out a larger set of Getting Ready for School Hot Dots Jr. activity cards (ARV $39.99)! This set has 80 double-sided interactive cards that teach early learning lessons using Ace, the Talking Teaching Dog tool (which is included with this set!).

I shared this with my 5-year-old niece. It’s her first year of kindergarten, and already she knows so much! She just needed me to read the card directions and then she had fun testing her skills! A-plus for her! All while having fun with her auntie! The Ace pen is easy for little hands to hold, and tells the child if they got the correct answer or not. The immediate feedback is a great encouragement to keep kids learning independently.

The Hot Dots Jr. cards are great for Pre-K through 1st grade. Besides helping kids get ready for school, I think they make a great after-school game/review time for children, or something to do on the weekends so kids can keep practicing skills!

While my niece played, I was hard at work on “The Big Dig” with my nephew using the GeoSafari Dino Dig set… unearthing two velociraptor skeletons from a fossilized clay block! I actually had no idea before opening the box how paleontoligists get bones out of the ground. So this activity seemed pretty authentic to me, with excavation tools, a guide book, and tips for our work.

It allows for some imagintive play, as kids pretend to be paleontologists, and encourages detail work and fine motor skills while scraping and brushing clay from the fossils.

After excavation, the dinosaur skeletons can be assembled and posed for great battle scenes, so the fun doesn’t end once the dust settles! Choose from the Velociraptors set, Triceratops, or Tyranasaurus Rex! These sets retail for $19.99 each, and are great for that hands-on learning young students love!

Buy It: Educators, parents… you need to check out Educational Insights  – they have an extensive collection of fun, educational products for every age group and topic. Easily sorted by subject, category, theme, or brand, it’s so fun to look around. Start a wish list – Christmas is coming!!

Win it: Two of my readers will win these great items! (One winner for each item – please indicate Dinos or Hot Dots or EITHER!).

Disclosure: I was sent a product to facilitate this review, and was not compensated in any other way. All opinions are 100% my own.