Usborne Dinosaur Adventure Excavation Kid Kit Review

In our Homeschool we have been studying dinosaurs and careers that relate to dinosaurs. My oldest has now decided that she wants to be an archaeologist!

To let them have a small glimpse of how much work it is to uncover dinosaur bones and fossils, I went ahead and ordered them each a Dinosaur Adventure Excavation Kit from Usborne.

I got my oldest daughter the Triceratops Kit and the younger one got the Stegosaurus Kit. They had a great time breaking apart the clay and finding all the different pieces. Every time they would find a new piece they would let out a squeal of excitement!

Just to be forewarned, you will want to have newspaper covering the work area as it does get extremely messy. And if your kids are anything like mine, they will continue to smash the clay even after they had found all the pieces.

The kit comes with the lump of clay that has the "dinosaur fossil" hidden within, goggles for eye safety, a small hammer that also has a screwdriver in the handle, and a small brush to brush off all the dust and small pieces of dirt.

Also, depending on how old your kids are you might have to help them snap all the pieces together. My girls did require some help in snapping the pieces together, but we did get them together.

I highly recommend this to anyone who has a child that has expressed any kind of interest in dinosaurs. It is a great way to supplement their learning of dinosaurs! Make sure that you child is old enough to use a hammer without hurting themselves, the recommended age is 6 and up. Though I used it with my youngest who is 5, use you judgment about whether your child is mature enough to do this activity.

***The triceratops kit is no longer available through Usborne.

The Usborne Fairytale Jigsaw Book Review

My two girls love this book! Yes, I too am seeing a pattern here, all the books that I have reviewed so far are ones that my girls adore reading. I guess it makes sense that the ones that come to mind when I sit down to write a review are the ones that my girls read over and over again!

Yes, there are a few that are not on the "I love list" but I have not yet found an Usborne book that we did not enjoy. But, I do not own every book that they have published, there are so many choices! That's another thing I love about Usborne, the amount of great choices that they have.

Anyway, back to the review. The Usborne Fairytale Jigsaw Book has six classic fairytales along with six jigsaw puzzles to go along with each story. Yes, the stories are familiar ones but the favorite part of this book is the jigsaw puzzles that are included.

Each jigsaw puzzle has a great cute cutout in the middle that goes along with the story. For example Cinderella has a glass slipper, Goldilocks a bear and so on. It is so cute and clever that I just smile. Okay, so I'm a little impressed by cute, creative, and clever things.

***Usborne no longer carries this title.  But there are plenty of Usborne Jigsaw titles as well as Fairytales.

Usborne Sticker Dolly Books Review

I got the Sticker Dolly Dressing Fairies and the Sticker Dolly Dressing Princesses for my two girls for Christmas. We ended up taking a 6 hour car trip to visit family after the holidays. Both my girls get carsick if they read in the car, makes the drive a little more miserable and boring.


So, I took their sticker books with us, and they had a ball dressing the fairies and princesses with the stickers form the book. They both sat in the back seat working on their sticker books giggling and sharing with each other!

The stickers are not reusable but they are repositionable. Meaning that they won't stay sticky forever but you can remove them and put them on others for a few times. Only two of the stickers are not able to stick anymore, and those are because they got dropped on the floor. The other stickers are still being able to be moved on and off.

The Sticker Dolly Dressing Fairies book is about three fairies named Rosie, Willow, and Hazel. You can follow the fairies through the meadow, the forest, and even into a winter wonderland. The book has 24 pages and 10 additional pages of stickers to make this book a truly interactive adventure.

The Sticker Dolly Dressing Princesses book is about three princess named Bella, Anya, and Tasha. Dress them up to go to a masked ball, a horse ride through the enchanted forest, or even a carriage ride. This book also has 24 pages and 10 additional pages of stickers for a fun experience.

The recommended age is 4 and up but any young girl who loves fairies and princesses will love these books. I even had fun doing the one page that I was allowed to do in their book!

There is a huge line of Sticker Dressing Books available.  Even some for boys including Pirates, Soldiers, and more!

Usborne Starting Ballet Kid Kit Review

The Starting Ballet Kid Kit was one of the first Usborne purchases that I ever made, and my girls still use it as much today as they did when it first arrived at our door.

The kit came with the book Starting Ballet, which can be purchased separately from the kit. This book is one of Usborne Internet Linked Books, basically an Internet linked book gives the reader a chance to visit http://www.usborne-quicklinks.com/ and enter in the book and page number of the book that they want to learn more information about. This website provides safe content appropriate websites to visit to learn more about the subject you are reading about. It is important to understand that you do not need Internet access to enjoy the book.

The Starting Ballet book covers everything that a beginner will need to know and helps them practice their first steps of ballet. The book has beautiful, professional photographs as well as step-by-step illustrations that clearly illustrate the techniques and steps. The text is clearly written to allow all level readers and beginning ballerinas understand what is written.

The kid kit included sturdy paper dolls with six interchangeable costumes. Unfortunately, Usborne does not offer the book in the kid kit anymore.  The dolls and clothing were made from a sturdy plastic material that stands up to play, travel, and love. (My girls have had theirs for over a year and they still look as good as they did when they first got them.) The costumes are easily changed with velcro that keeps the costumes in place while being played with. The kit also comes with durable background scenery with four different backgrounds to choose from.

Check out all the great ballerina books that will sure to delight all young prima ballerinas!

Usborne Cars Book Review

Usborne has a great chunky board book, Cars, that is perfect for little hands that will stand up to lots of use! The book is great for ages 9 months and older and has great pictures with just a couple of words per page that will keep little ones, especially boys interested in books. Why not give this book to a young person as a way to introduce them to the wonderful world of books. It has 10 thick and sturdy pages which will hold up through lots of play. This book measures 4 x 4 inches and is sure to be a hit! Costing under $5.00 it will be a hit with your budget as well!

***Usborne no longer carries this board book but they have plenty of other Car related books!