It may still be cold outside, but you can bring a bit of the jungle inside with the Robotic Gorilla kit from Silver Dolphin Books. The kit includes a gorilla robot that you put together along with a book about gorillas and how they inspired the design of robots.
Our testing mom tried out this kit with her 7-year-old son and his friend and they were both eager to rip into it and try out the gorilla. It only took them ten minutes to assemble the robot, after which they loved watching its eyes glow red and were thrilled to see it was able to walk across carpet. The robot even stood up to some wear and tear. According to mom, “We learned through experimentation that the Robotic Gorilla will fly apart if sent off the edge of a cliff (i.e. kitchen table), but that it can be put back together again after such a catastrophe.” Later mom and son went through the book that came with the robot, and while they didn’t really learn how gorillas inspired robot design, they did learn a lot of interesting facts about gorillas. The kit was pretty much a hit, although the boys did wish the robot was a little more difficult to put together and had a bigger range of movements.
The Robotic Gorilla kit retails for $17.95. For more information visit www.silverdolphinbooks.com.