Customer Reviews

Smart Lab Squishy You Explore It Human Body

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

We bought this toy for our 4 1/2 year old grandson who is always asking questions about how his body works. The smile on his face when he opened this gift was priceless! There are many small parts included, but with adult assistance, he enjoyed taking the body parts out and examining them. The pieces are made of a very soft plastic that almost feels slimy, but isn't. The "touch" added to the mystery of the organs and generated many more questions...a very good learning toy! A chart is included, labeling the body parts for easy identification. The molded outer body is made of two pieces of see-through hard plastic that snaps together easily. (Lay the backside of the body on the table while you replace the body parts and then snap the frontside in place to hold everything together.) A fun, fact-filled book is also included - full of great pictures and facts that are fun to read. This toy was perfect for our inquisitive grandson who is able to safely play with small parts. TOY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
SmartLab You Explore It Human Body Model

This is a model of the human body that can be taken apart and re-assembled. The internal organs are soft to feel more real. It comes with a chart identifying each organ and instructions (mainly for older kids and parents) which show how to put it back together. Paired with a children's anatomy book it's a great lab companion. It's geared to older children (8 and up) but my 4 year old niece loves to take it apart and have Mom & Dad help her put it back together. She is demonstrating an amazing understanding of basic anatomy. Both her parents tell me they now know more about anatomy than ever before. It has turned out to be quite educational for the whole family.

This is a fantastic tool for a homeschool unit on the human body. I use it with my 6 and 4 year olds, but it is probably intended for 8-10 year olds. (I'm a physician trying to homeschool, and so my unit on the human body is probably far from typical!)

If you don't homeschool, this is still worth having. Use it with your kids to review what they are covering in their lessons. (I believe that's technically called 'afterschooling'!) I don't think it would work well in a classroom, though. Way too small; it needs to be used with maybe 2-3 kids max at a time.

I get it out for every lesson of our human body study. We look at the system we are studying, and it is a tremendous visual aid to understand the physiology.

For example: Today we talked about respiration. The diaphragm can be tricky to explain, so I used this model. With the forceps I pushed the diaphragm piece up and down while making exaggerated sound effects. "What happens to the lungs when I push this up? What about if it pulls down? Where does the air go?" and they were able to see clearly how the diaphragm pulls air in and pushes it out. Never would've gotten that from a textbook.

I also use this model for a Charlotte Mason style of narration. I can take all of the pieces out, and as I put them back in place ask "Hand me the stomach. Which piece is it? What does it do?" The youngest child gets the first shot, and then the older can add what he knows. For review I can hand my son the forceps and ask him to "tell me what happens to food." He can trace the path of an apple through the model and explain what happens in each spot.

Visual aids are a huge asset when learning anything, but especially something that can be hard for a child to visualize, such as the inside of a body. Illustrations in a book are helpful, but this goes several steps beyond. A line sketch of "my digestive system" is good, but too abstract for a young child to really make any meaningful connection with the actual human body. This model is that connecting piece between books and the physical world.

Just a warning: this is fairly delicate. Keep away from the littles. It needs to be kept put away and gotten out for school. Let it get mixed in with other toys and kiss your kidneys goodbye!

If you are doing a human body unit, I also really like How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3 and First Encyclopedia of the Human Body (First Encyclopedias). Good luck!

I ordered this to teach my children about anatomy. Two days after it arrived, I found my daughters and a friend of theirs playing with it. They actually played with it for a good hour, and then they played with it again the next day for a couple of hours. It is one of their favorite toys now. They don't even realize that it was meant to educate!

I bought the SMARTLAB; You explore it - Human Body for my homeschool elementary anatomy class. My kids (Pre-K - Grade 7)love taking the body parts out and placing them on the "organ"ization sheet and then reassembling them in the model. The organs have a squishy, sticky feel to them while they are new, but I fear that all the handling will have them looking dirty and fuzzy eventually. It's been a couple week and they still look new.
It is a good hands-on tool for elementary anatomy students.

I bought this Human Body skeleton toy as a gift for my cousins, they were fascinated and freaked out at the same time. They had no problem taking out all the "stuff", but getting it back in correctly and having them stay, has been a bit of a challenge.

I bought this as part of our homeschool science curriculum for my 6 year old son and 9 year old daughter. They're learning a lot from it and really having fun playing doctor, mad scientist, etc. The model is great, although a little tricky to put back together, as some other reviewers mentioned. Once we took him apart, put him back together, and stood him on the stand we couldn't seem to stop his intestines from wanting to fall out the front. But my son suggested putting a piece of clear tape across the front, which solved that problem. The pieces seem durable. I was a little worried at first that my 6 year old may accidentally break the bones trying to pull them out, but he didn't have any problems. The book is very informative and my kids love the pictures of the real organs in it. All in all, I'm really glad I got it (and almost wish I'd saved it for a Christmas present since they were so excited over it).

My daughter received this for her 5th birthday & couldn't wait to crack it open. The 'squishy' organs had significantly more detail than I expected, and the forceps & tweezers to remove them with made her feel "like a real doctor" as she said. There are also a bunch of removable bones & muscles. Combine this with a mat to place everything on to keep it organized & labeled, a nice book explaining what you are removing and how it helps the body, and detailed instructions on how to easily replace everything made this a winner for me to. My daughter is already asking when we can do it again. Highly recommend.

My four year old son wanted this for Christmas. He loves it--plays doctor with it.My 2 year old daughter loves it too. BUT it isn't made for small children. The clear plastic body broke when my son got too rough with it. I glued it and he still plays with it. The organs are realistic but easily get dirty so need to be kept off dirty surfaces. The scissors and tweezers were broken soon after getting but because my children stepped on them. I love this toy because my son has learned about the body but as far as durability, it is made for older children who know how to take care of it.

My 7 year old boy loves anatomy and leaped right in (with his 8 year old sister) and put this together entirely on their own, first time. He loves seeing all parts and organs are "smooshy" (feels real). I thought he might break it, but so far so good. We homeschool and used this as an educational opportunity with Apologia Science, Anatomy. Very good choice.