Last Christmas, I bought the kids the Smithsonian Frog Lab and we finally got around to doing it yesterday.

Basically, you put together a plastic frog skeleton, with rubbery organs, and place it into the two piece mold. Then, you mix a green powder with really warm water, stir for 10 minutes, and pour it into the mold. After it sets (about an hour), you have a “frog” to dissect.

Little E holding the frog

It’s really more like picking off the thick, gel-like substance with fake tools, and really not like a real dissection at all, but the kids had a good time with it.

The booklet that it comes with contains a lot of good information about frogs. It has an introduction that describes their life-cycle and a few other facts. Then, as you work through the dissection, it details the functions of each of the organs.

Overall, it is a fun alternative for anyone who does not want to do a real frog dissection.

If you read the reviews on Amazon, most people had a hard time putting it together. It was kind of a pain, but not a deal breaker, as far as I am concerned. I can’t remember the last kids’ toy that was not kind of a pain to put together.

The D doing the dissection