Great afternoon project but required a lot of parental assistance. I think it says 8+ and I gave it to my 6-yr old but he was impatient at chipping away so slowly. At first I thought that we were breaking the bones and I was concerned so I took over. Turns out all the bones are in the center of the block and so working on the edges produced a lot of nothing for a long time. It made it that much more exciting when we started to uncover the first bone.<br />The tools it comes with are a joke. We only used the mallet and replaced the other &#34;toy tools&#34; with a screwdriver and a real brush, although the block is very hard and dense and brushing it gets you nowhere.<br />I know I sound very critical of it, but with some proper tools and help, it was a great activity and my son loves his finished product and he even built a little terrarium for him. I would definitely buy again, I wonder if they have other dinosaurs besides T-Rex next time.

Bought 2 kits for grandkids 10 and 8 years old. They loved it!! Messy but fun.

My niece loved it and play with it. They were surprise and so happy.

I love all The Smithsonian activity kits. I purchased this one for my five year old son who is infatuated with dinosaurs. He was able to chip away all the plaster and find the wooden puzzle pieces of a 3-D dinosaur. We worked together to put the pieces together to form the dino. This is a good simulation of what an archeologist does for younger children. I can easily see my second graders really enjoying and learning with this in a station during a unit based on mystery, problem solving or dinosaurs. The cost of the kit makes it easy to purchase multiples to use in rotations.

Ok

My small son (age 5) loves to learn about dinosaurs and paleontology. So, my wife and I decided to order this dino fossil kit and let him have at it by &#34;digging&#34; up the bones. In actuality, this is just a set of small plastic dinosaur bones that are poured at the factory into a combination plaster/rock mix and allowed to harden. The child can then use the included wooden hammer and chisel to slowly break apart the rock to reveal and release the bones. A set of goggles and some instructions are also included. It took my small son about six days of chiseling about 30 minutes each day to fully release the dinosaur skeleton. Although, some wilder children could probably break the whole rock up in about 20 minutes if they really pounded on it (but they might also break the dinosaur skeleton as well). Just make sure that the little ones do not break up the stone over some nice carpet and putting an old towel under the kit might be a good idea as well.<br /><br />I was torn between giving this little kit either 4 or 5 stars. It is fun and it does encourage their curiosity but it is also short lived and a tiny, tiny bit on the cheap side as well. But, for the price I paid ($9), it did provide a nice experience for a small child. For that reason, I am giving the Smithsonian Dino Kit five stars.

My son, 4 years old, received this as a gift and absolutely loved it. It took him a few days digging, off and on, to get all of the dinosaur out. He had a great time digging and putting the dino together.

So much fun for my 6-year-old son. It does make a bit of a mess, but we did it outside, so that wasn't really a problem. My son absolutely LOVED chipping away and finding the bones!

My little anthropologists loved it. 8th birthday a huge success. She is looking forward to Christmas

My 6 years old girl loves dinosaurs and science, this was a perfect gift for her! She loved it!

I can't tell you how much fun my grandson had with this! He got so excited to see what he would uncover next.

Got this as a gift for my nephew for Christmas. He loves dinosaurs. It was a hit! Kept him entertained for quite a while.

LOVED this. We bought it because a friend of ours had it as a birthday party they took them and buried them in a sand box so the kids could find them and get the fossils...Big Hit.

My nephew absolutely loved this. He is 5 and really enjoyed putting it together. Definitely recommend to anyone who loves dinosaurs or knows a child that does.

My 5 year old Grandson loved being an archaeologist. Very fun!

Big hit with the kids. They all want one now

My 4 year old son loved it!

My grandson loved this!

My nephew loves it- big hit!

Very cool item!