This Full House Reviews: Venus Fly Trap - It eats bugs for lunch, sort of!

Our family loves the Discovery Channel and we very rarely miss an episode of Deadliest Catch (Go Time Bandit!) and Dirty Jobs (with the hunkiest host on television) or, Survivor Man (this guy eats bugs) and Man Vs. Wild (he's just gross) but, our new favorite Discovery show has to be The Alaska Experiment. 

Why?

Because it's about real people (two of them are from Jersey!) who agreed to move to Alaska, during the winter, and all six of us HATE BUGS!

Still.

My kids were a bit skeptical about the Venus Fly Trap we received from the Discovery Store.

"Hey, that's NOT a real flower!"

My youngest daughter (she's 6) loves to grow (and pick) flowers and has planted a sunflower patch in our backyard.

"Cewl, it's got teeth!"

My son (he's 9) was excited to learn that the Venus Fly Trap is actually a battery-operated toy that he lovingly referred to as, "the bug cruncher!"

NO!  It's not meant to mush bugs (the boy hates bees) but, it is fun and pretty easy to play with:

• You set the trap, and it catches the bugs
• Motion activated sensor detects when a bug has entered the chamber, and snaps the mouth shut
• Bait your trap to attract insects
• Transfer insects to your habitats, or release them

The Venus Fly Trap comes already assembled (thank you, Discovery Store) and all you have to do is feed it a couple of batteries and then bait the trap.

We cut up a piece of apple and placed it into the chamber.

We then set it out front near some flowers where we thought the bugs like to, you know, hang out.

Later.

[screaming]

I ran to the front of the house and even our elusive (read: unfriendly) neighbor from across the street poked her head out to see what was the matter with Mini-me.

"It caught a bug...it caught a bug and...EWWWW...it was a big ugg-wee one, too!"

I carefully lifted the trap and, with one eye closed, peered into the chamber and saw that...nope...there was no bug.

"Where did it go?"

[shrugs]

"I didn't wook-wike it could buh-weave, so I wet it go."

Oh, that's nice.

"Oh...WAIT...there it is!"

[eyes go wide]

I hate bugs (remember?) so, I screamed (pretty LOUD) and started swatting at the very large (and ugly) bug that was buzzing around my head and...nope...I didn't think the toy could survive being thrashed about, or was meant to be used as a weapon, either.

But, it worked, I bashed the darned thing upside it's thorax.

"Oh, it's only a carpenter bee."

Don't worry, it was merely dazed and - even though we have tons of them flying around our front porch and they really ARE a nuisance - the bee managed to survive the ordeal.

Me, not so much.

"Stupid bees!"

Want to see how a real Venus Fly Trap works?

You don't even have to wait...just fast forward...and BAM!

The Discovery Store's Venus Fly Trap is a fun way to get my kids outdoors - they hate bugs, remember? - and this is one toy that will come in very handy, this summer.  I love the fact that it sort of looks like the real plant, but I don't have to take care it (besides, feed it a couple of batteries) and it has already proved itself to be, you know, hard to break - I think I will name it, George!

[This review was brought to you courtesy of Parent Bloggers Network.]

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