Dinosaur DNA, Great Gizmos – Review

Dinosaurs fascinate my children, and Dinosaur DNA sounded like the perfect activity for my inquisitive 8-year-old to try out. Inside the box, is everything you need to get started. A big block containing the dinosaur bones and test tube containing the “dna”, tools to extract them with, and details on how to download the augmented reality app!

Getting started with Dinosaur DNA, cover the space your child will be using in newspaper, however careful they are, it will get messy! We used an old shirt as an overall to keep clothes clean during the dig.

My son sat happily digging for bones for almost an hour, having excitedly recovered one or two, he wanted a break – we carefully wrapped it up and put it away. The next day, he was keen to dig again and he sat for around an hour again. If your child gets frustrated or bored by digging, you can wet the block to make it easier, (but don’t let any of it go down the sink – it might block drains!).

Once all the bits have been dug out, the dinosaur is ready to build. We found building the model quite hard, in fact my 8-year-old couldn’t get it to stay together at all. In the end with a bit of help the Stegosaurus was built, and glows impressively in the dark! However, that’s not where the fun ends! The Dinosaur DNA which has been dug out, brings a dinosaur to life in your home! Use the app to scan the code, and as though by magic the dinosaur appears.

Dinosaur DNA has an RRP £14.99, and the augmented reality app is free to download. My son enjoyed digging for the dinosaur, although he found being unable to construct the skeleton without help frustrating. The augmented reality was great fun, and the children were each amazed that we had a dinosaur in our sitting room! We did discover that you only get a few “free dinosaurs” with the augmented reality, then you have to pay for the others, so something to be aware of if your child has access to buy things on apps.

Disclaimer: We were sent this for the purposes of an honest review.