When you first open up the box, there’s a moment of disappointment. All you find is a pair of safety goggles and plastic bag with six roundish rocks. But don’t be fooled: there’s a lot more here than meets the eye. We recommend that you and your child grab a hammer (not included), put on the safety goggles, go outside on the sidewalk, and crack open one or two of the geodes. Once your child has seen the beautiful crystals that are inside, she’ll be much more interested in reading the included Adventure Guide. The first thing you learn is that geodes are formed when gas bubbles get trapped in lava and are penetrated by minerals over millions of years. Knowing that those geodes are so ancient (and yes, they’re real) will make breaking open the next batch a lot more interesting.

Dinosaurs have fascinated people since the first bones were discovered about 200 years ago, and the Dino Dig Kit gives kids a small taste of what it’s like to be a paleontologist. Each kit contains a magnifying glass, a brush, a digging tool, and an egg-shaped plaster thing that’s painted to look like a T-Rex head.  It’s what’s inside that egg that’s so fun. Use the digging tool to chip away at the plaster, and inside, your young scientist will discover a real dino tooth, a small piece of actual dino bone, and some actual dino poop. Fortunately, all are fossilized. Because the plaster makes an incredible messes, we recommend that you do your excavating outside or, if you’re inside, cover your work surface with lots of newspaper. The included Adventure Guide gives a fun overview of what fossils are and how they’re formed, where they’re found, and even a brief discussion of dino poop (the scientific name is “coprolites,” and the biggest piece ever found was 2 feet long and 6.5 inches wide).

As kids, we all learn about the California Gold rush and we’ve all seen plenty of pictures of miners squatting by the side of a river with a pie pan. If you’ve ever wondered how, exactly, you can find gold with a pie pan, you’ll love this kit.  It comes with an actual pan (plastic), two bags of “pay dirt” (which is more like sand), tweezers, and a magnifying glass. Most importantly, there are easy-to-understand instructions on how to use gravity, water, and the ridges on the inside of the pan to separate tiny nuggets and even tinier flakes (hence the magnifying glass and tweezers) from the sand. As with the other Dr. Cool kits, this one comes with an informative Adventure Guide and Activity Booklet with trivia, puzzles, and more.