Fun project with tedious pieces. I needed to intervene with tweezers to complete the project but we had fun. Item lasted for about a week in our house (lots of kiddo usage in varying ages and developmental stages) then pieces started falling off and it was no longer safe for our environment. It does work and you can pick things up and really enjoy the mechanics of it.First of all, it looks and acts better than the product picture. Lava comes out of the eyes and partially collects in a pool at the bottom ! I successfully used this for experiments AND as an awesome cake topper BUT... I spray painted it gold glitter and couldnt get it pieced back together to actually do an eruption ON the cake. My fault ! I didn't spray it with middle tube inside, only outer pieces assembled. It's a very tight fit and finicky to put together even before spray painted. (A clear plastic tray or tray matching cake top color needed for that. I HALVED a recipe to make an eruption that could be contained on 11 inch round tray, 1-2 inches tall). With that being said the directions are bad and there was some type of manufacturing snafu (the silver tube on the bottom right is just decorative, but not in the assembly directions at all, so was obviously originally meant to be another drainage system). In addition, the eruption recipe is overly complicated. Use one of the 53,642 volcano recipes on pinterest instead : ) This is a homerun for people with common sense and ingenuity, but not for those who want to follow steps as written.My nine year old was able to assemble this himself. My only disappointment was that you have to crank it constantly in order for the light to work. The crank is really loud and not all that smooth. I had hoped you could build up a charge then have it illuminate for at least a few seconds. However, he needed a prop for his anglerfish project and this will do just fine ;-)This is difficult if under 13 they will need help possibly.Hard to assemble for a 5 years old. Too many small screws of different sizes and hard to screw them in.It also looks cheap.It says item for 6 year old. Well it was hard for 30 year old to put together. After it was finally put together, about 30 minutes or more, my grandson played with it for five to ten minutes and got bored. So it is on a self now.Not impressed!!!! The holes that the string is supposed to go thru do not line up well at all!!! This is a craft that you may as well do for your child not with them. When we completed the octopus and my son began to play with it the string (that was now cut per the instructions) broke loose from the tentacle making it impossible to put back in. This toy took twice as long to make as it lasted!!!The instructions were mirrored so it was hard to put together. With the help of Dad who is an engineer it works. That is fun. The legs are a little flimsy but it still walks.