Comments on: Critter Carnival: A Bug Examination Fun House

By: gertie

gertie — Wed, 28 May 2008 04:56:57 +0000

As a science teacher I shop at Insect Lore a lot, as part of my quest to make every child in America (or at least at my school) get up close and personal with caterpillars, ants and earthworms. We will triumph over the bug-haters!

Insect lore used to be a very basic supply house for teachers, but they've branched out recently. Most of what they sell now is useless junk like the product you reviewed. A kid would be much better off with a glass jar.

I recommend earthworms for toddlers. You'd, um, have to supervise of course, but the care and feeding is super easy. Just a few handfuls of dirt in a jar. If you cover the outside of the jar with black paper then remove it in a few days, you will be able to see worm tunnels in the dirt.

By: Jonathon

Jonathon — Wed, 28 May 2008 03:26:02 +0000

Bugs have been on the “absolutely not” list at our house for awhile, but we bought something similar to this a couple birthdays ago and managed to sneak a few in under the radar.

By: CanCan

CanCan — Tue, 27 May 2008 21:57:43 +0000

This seems like it is somehow misleading children into thinking insects are “fun” and/or “pets”. I mean the set up looks fun; I can almost picture a couple of smiling lady bugs riding the ferris wheel. But I think in reality, the performance of the bugs would be disappointing. Then if they died (which they probably would)…that is just a whole other “can of worms”.

By: addy

addy — Tue, 27 May 2008 20:34:54 +0000

I like the other product sold by the same sight the bug locket…my 4 year old would be highly fashionable with a spider necklace…she is very into catching spiders…she had a huge one last week named wolfie (he was a wolf spider) this week she has jumpy (the jumping spider) he sleeps in his bug house in her bed. scoff all you like about having bugs as pets…I am allergic to cats and dogs so bugs as pets we have.

By: JMo

JMo — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:36:15 +0000

ROFL Jennifer – bugs didn’t perform. :)

I took one look at the picture and thought, wow, MPC (molded plastic crap) – not just for children anymore!

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Tue, 27 May 2008 15:37:01 +0000

A glass jar is so much better; especially considering that those darn bugs just don't know how to use those monkey bars! I know because I had one of these donated to the classroom once and had 16 very disappointed preschoolers on my hands when the bugs didn't perform for them...

No matter how you try to explain it ahead of time, they really do expect to see them perform.

By: adrienne

adrienne — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:13:01 +0000

If your wife is like me about bugs, you'll have a long wait.

When we were partially flooded in 2006 (thanks to tornado damaged gutters and freak rain- 14 inches in one hour), our basement became home to a vast colony of isopods.

The half dozen car-engine sized dehumidifiers turned them all into roly-mummies that I unearthed when removing all the ruined carpet.

Needless to say, they don't inspire happy associations around here.