Educational Insights (1995-2007)
Educational Insights (1995-2007)
Educational Insights, from California, United States, was the third licensee of the Sea-Monkeys brand from November 1995 until sometime during the first half of 2007.
Headed by George C. Atamian (1938-2025), then vice-president of Educational Insights, the Sea-Monkey brand was initially part of Educational Insights’ ExploraToy division. After showing success in the toy market, ‘The Amazing Live Sea-Monkeys’ brand became its own division within Educational Insights in 2001, with Mr Atamian becoming its president and COO.
This era under Educational Insights was marked by many innovative products, proactive use of the brand’s license & the introduction of various Sea-Monkey aquariums, which to this day remain part of the brand’s product line.
In October of 2006, Educational Insights was acquired by Learning Resources, under which it still operates to this day. In June of 2007, the Sea-Monkey brand had a new licensee, Big Time Toys. In September of 2007, the ExploraToy trademark was cancelled.
You can read more about the Sea-Monkey era with Educational Insights in our history section.
Ocean-Zoo®
The Ocean-Zoo aquarium received some revisions and saw many color variations during Education Insights’ time.
Ocean-Zoos included in early kits distributed by Education Insights consisted of the single-mold aquarium seen in previous decades, likely to get rid of leftover stock from previous licensees. That single-mold Ocean-Zoo was eventually replaced with a new version that consisted of two separately assembled components: the aquarium body with the magnifying lenses and the volcanic seafloor base.
The Aero-Vent cover also saw various iterations during this time. This included a single-piece cover embossed with the hatching Sea-Monkey logo, ExploraToy’s light-up cover, and a variant with a removable top. The latter had two variants, one with an orifice at the top and one without it.
Ocean of Fun™
Ocean of Light™
Ocean of Wonder™
Sea-Monkeys® Companion™
The Sea-Monkeys Companion was one of ExploraToy’s earliest portable Sea-Monkey line accessories, which consisted of a small plastic container with a sliding magnifier and a built-in plastic belt clip. This item was a repurposed bug viewer found in GeoSafari kits, Educational Insights’ other brand of science toys.
While well suited for the temporary housing of insects, its design was a poor one for the aquatic nature of brine shrimp, making it a poor choice for a temporary portable aquarium.
Surplus of this item was subsequently sold by Transcience as the “Port-A-Pet.” Known colors: Green & Yellow.
Sea-Monkeys® Aquarium Watch™
US Patent #6,416,217
Released circa 1999, the Aqua-Watch was a Sea-Monkey-themed digital watch with a small plastic dome in which one could place a Sea-Monkey or two. The watch was initially released in four fluorescent colors: blue, green, red, and yellow; each with its own unique watch face art. A glow-in-the-dark variant was subsequently released. The blister packaging included your three primary packets to hatch & raise Sea-Monkeys, and an Aqua-Leash to transfer your Sea-Monkeys.
Sea-Monkeys® Wrist-Aquarium™
Sea-Monkeys® PenQuarium™
Sea-Monkeys® Ghostly Galleon™
The Ghostly Galleon kit was a light-up Ocean-Zoo with a glow-in-the-dark sunken galleon ship decoration at the bottom. This was a robust kit that included your three primary packets, a Plasma III packet, an Aqua-Leash, a Million Bubble Air Pump, and a specially designed yellow Aero-Vent cover to be used with the Oceanic Searchlight. Amongst the included content of early distributions of this kit, one could find a “Sea Show” projector screen, which was the same one included in the Sea-Circus kit introduced by Larami.
This product saw two packaging variations; one was a fully enclosed box that featured a fanciful art piece of Sea-Monkeys diving around the sunken ship and admiring a treasure chest; the other variant was your standard box packaging with a cutout in the front to be able to see the contents included.
Sunken Treasure™ or Sunken Treasure Ship™
The Sunken Treasure kit was a trimmed-down offshoot of the Ghostly Galleon, which, most notably, didn’t include the Oceanic Searchlight.
The boxed variant (featuring the same art as the Ghostly Galleon) of this kit was released under two names: Sunken Treasure™ and Sunken Treasure Ship™. In addition to not including the light-up component, this kit also omitted the Million Bubble Air Pump.
This kit also received a blister packaging variant, which further trimmed down the content included.
Sea-Monkeys® Speedway Challenge™
The Sea-Monkeys® Speedway™ was ExploraToy’s iteration of the product by the same name introduced back in the 1970s, in which one could put your Sea-Monkeys’ swimming abilities to the test.
This kit included two yellow Speedway tracks, decals to decorate them, plastic gate flags, markers & small containers to be used as a pit stop and to store Sea-Monkey “fuel.” Also included with this kit were the three primary packets, a Sea-Monkey Racing Fuel packet from the 1970s & two Aqua-Leashes (also called Racing Pumps in the instructions).
Moose Toys, the brand’s sublicensee in Australia during Educational Insights’ early years with the brand, also produced their own racetrack iterations.
In the instruction sheet for this kit, we can spot an illustration of a Racing Fuel packet with new fanciful art; this conceptual packet never ended up being produced.
Sea-Monkeys® Magic Castle™
Introduced in the late 1990s, the Sea-Monkeys® Magic Castle is a domed tank featuring a castle decoration, whose colors were inspired by the castle seen in Sea-Monkey comic book ads.
ExploraToy’s first version of this tank was about 4.5 inches (11.43 cm) tall and had a dark blue base with the word “Sea-Monkeys” embossed on it. This tank had a 10 oz (295.73 ml) capacity when filled.
Not long after its release, this tank received a redesign, which ended up becoming the standard version. This second version had a slightly taller body, about an inch (2.5cm) more than its predecessor, which allowed the water to have some breathing room. The base was now teal in color and featured the full kit’s name: “Amazing Live Sea-Monkeys® Magic Castle.”
This tank ended up becoming a regular in the line of Sea-Monkey tanks produced by succeeding licensees. In the early 2020s, this tank received a new iteration.
Sea-Monkeys® On Mars™
Released circa the year 2000, Sea-Monkeys® On Mars™ was ExploraToy’s second dome-shaped tank. As indicated by the product title, this is a tank with a Martian surface theme and decorated with a spacefaring Sea-Monkey and its Mars lander.
Like its Magic Castle counterpart, this tank also ended up becoming a regularly produced kit.
During its pre-production, this kit was called Mars Mania™.
Sea-Monkeys® Space Shuttle Expedition™
Released circa 2000, this kit was inspired by NASA’s Space Shuttle mission, STS-95, conducted in 1998. That mission gained notoriety due to John Glenn’s return to space at the age of 77, at the time the oldest person to have gone to space. Amongst the various experiments conducted, the effects of cosmic radiation on brine shrimp egg development were one of them.
This Space Shuttle tank featured a built-in aerator (decorated with a Sea-Monkey astronaut figure), which one would manually pump via the nose of the Shuttle, and it also featured a red light on the cover, which required two AA batteries.
Like most kits around this time, it included your three primary pouches, a Plasma III packet & feeding spoon.
Sea-Monkeys® Explor-A-Sub™
Sea-Monkeys® MagiQuarium™
The MagiQuarium™ is an Ocean-Zoo variant that features a glow-in-the-dark element. Introduced in 2001, this is another kit that has since remained part of the standard line of Sea-Monkeys products, alongside the Magic Castle™ & On Mars™ kits.
The first iteration produced by ExploraToy consisted of a proprietary glow-in-the-dark adhesive material placed in the back of the aquarium and had the silhouette of a mountain. In the second iteration, which became the standard version, its phosphorescent element was changed to the bottom, molded seascape.
Since its inception, the MagiQuarium™ has only ever been mass-produced in navy blue and has always featured the Aero-Vent cover, with a removable lid & magnifying cap.
Sea-Monkeys® Aqua Maze™
The Aqua Maze™ was an oval-shaped, portable mini-aquarium & electronic toy. One half consisted of the aquarium component, in which one could put one or two adult Sea-Monkeys, and the other half consisted of a small metal stylus & metal plate with a wavy “maze” design, which would light up and make noise if the edges were touched. Same mechanic as seen in the Operation board game, which is a variant of the wire loop game.
This small kit included your primary pouches and an Aqua-Leash to safely transfer your Sea-Monkeys.
Sea-Monkeys® Bio-Mania™ & Teacher’s Pet™
Bio-Mania™ & Teacher’s Pet™ were classroom science kits for teachers and students to conduct various experiments with Sea-Monkeys (brine shrimp). The Bio-Mania™ packaging featured an illustration of an Albert Einstein-looking Sea-Monkey, experimenting in a laboratory. The Teacher’s Pet™ packaging featured a classroom with Sea-Monkey students and a Sea-Monkey teacher. Despite having different product names & packaging art, their content appears to have been the same, as per the limited information we have at hand.
Each kit apparently included a teacher’s guide, five student sheets, six sets of primary packets, six feeding spoons, six pipettes, and six Petri dishes.
Sea-Monkeys® Life-Boat™
Sea-Monkeys® and the search for Pirate Gold™
The Pirate Gold™ was a pirate-themed kit that included an Ocean-Zoo aquarium with a stack of “gold coins” as decoration at the bottom. To go along with its pirate theme and packaging, certain features received nautical-related descriptions: the magnifying bubbles seen in all Ocean-Zoos were described as viewports, while the magnifying cap in the Aero-Vent cover was called “Captain’s Spyglass Lens.”
This kit included your primary packets, an Aqua-Leash, a feeding spoon, and the Life-Boat™ accessory.
Sea-Monkeys® Pirate Plunder™
Sea-Monkeys® Retro Kit
Sea-Monkeys® Robo Diver™
This kit included your three primary pouches, a special compression cover, a regular cover with a magnifier, a Robo Diver toy, tweezers to retrieve the diver, a pipette, an Aqua-Leash, and a feeding spoon.
This set was initially a Sea-Monkeys.com exclusive in the early 2000s; it eventually became available via other retailers.
Sea-Monkeys® Mini-World
Mini-World was a line of three themed aquariums that was initially introduced by Moose Toys, Sea-Monkeys’ sublicensee in Australia. The initial line produced by Moose Toys consisted of: Sea-Monkeys® in the City, Sea-Monkeys® Hit the Beach & Sea-Monkeys® in Space.
ExploraToy subsequently released their own iteration of those three tanks in other markets. Under ExploraToy, the titles of two tanks were changed: Hit the Beach became Hang 10 (surfing term) & in Space became on the Moon. The tanks themselves received some color changes & various decorative elements were modified or omitted.
These tanks were sold in both blister and box packaging. As with most kits, it included your primary pouches & a feeding spoon.
Sea-Monkeys® My First Pet™ &
My First Pet™ with Magic Portal™
My First Pet™ was a kit targeted at young children to teach them about the responsibility of raising pets. This kit included its very own 32-page handbook, written by Julia Spencer Moutran, Ph. D., which included information about pet care and also served as an activity book.
Sea-Monkeys® Port-A-Pet™ Pocket PlayPen
Released in 2003, the Port-A-Pet™ Pocket PlayPen was ExploraToy’s updated version of the PenQuarium™. The product name was inspired by the Port-A-Pet™ Pocket Pen introduced in the 1970s.
The Pocket PlayPen featured a blue cap with a Sea-Monkey figurine, a metal clip, a red LED light on its tip, and a display base. This accessory was sold standalone and also in its own boxed kit paired with an Ocean-Zoo and necessary supplies to hatch and raise Sea-Monkeys.
Sea-Monkeys® Executive Set
The Sea-Monkeys® Executive Set was ExploraToys’ newest iteration in the Executive line introduced back in the late 1970s. Targeted for a more professional business setting, this kit included a black Ocean-Zoo with “gold” elements. It featured a gold Aero-Vent cover with a Golden Sea-Monkey figure; the bottom featured a stack of golden coins, which were the same decoration as seen in the pirate-themed kits.
Included were also your three primary packets, a feeding spoon, an Aqua-Leash, the Million Bubble Air Pump, a magnifying lens, and a squeegee (also called the Tiny Tank Tool).
Executive Set (Transcience's Version)
Sea-Monkeys® Friendship Locket™
Sea-Monkeys® Sea-Bubble™
The Sea-Bubble keychain was a portable, mini-aquarium in which one could place two to three Sea-Monkeys for up to 12 hours. This item was sold in blister packaging in conjunction with an Ocean-Zoo and was also included in some of the Pirate Gold kits.
Sea-Monkeys® and the new Baby-Nursery™
It included the three primary pouches & a feeding spoon.
Sea-Monkeys® Super Sleuth™ or Super Detective Set™
Sea-Monkeys® Night-Life Gems™
Sea-Monkeys® Night-Life Gems™ was ExploraToys’ last themed set they released during their tenure with the Sea-Monkey brand. With a nightlife packaging motif, this kit’s main gimmick was the inclusion of three glow-in-the-dark “stones” eponymously called Night Life Gems™.
This light-up kit also included a navy blue Ocean-Zoo, a Submarine Searchlight™, the three primary packets, an Aqua-Leash, and a feeding spoon.
Instant Life® Kits
Packets
Under Educational Insights, the Plasma packet received yet another formula update & change to its numbering; Plasma II was phased out, and Plasma III (Packet #4) was introduced.
During the early years under Educational Insights, we saw the brief return of Joe Orlando’s 1970s packet art. In many of the early kits, we saw the inclusion of a Growth Food and Plasma III packet variant, which featured recolored iterations of Joe’s art. Those packet variants eventually stopped being distributed, and the brand settled on the large numbered packets we still use to this day.
The Water Purifier & Eggs packets didn’t receive a corresponding packet variant.
Handbook
EI-6001G
During the initial years under Educational Insights, the yellow handbook variant introduced by Larami in the 1980s was reissued and included in most kits during those early years.
While 1987 is the last copyright year listed in the handbook, that year doesn’t correspond to when Educational Insights became the licensee or when this handbook iteration was produced. While the majority of the handbook is identical to its 1980s predecessor, we see changes in one of its initial pages, in the Plasma packet section, and an updated Parts and Supplies section with a few new items & pricing changes.
This handbook was eventually phased out in lieu of a simple double-sided sheet, which included some brief info about the brand, offers, and the parts & supplies section seen in the handbook.
Promotional Items/Sea-Monkeygear.com
Sea-Monkeys Tic-Tac-Toe On The Go
Planned & Unreleased Products
Space Cruiser-XT™
Seen in a 2004 press release, the Space Cruiser-XT™ would have been the successor to the Space Shuttle Expedition, but it never went into full production. According to a close source to ExploraToy, with the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster having occurred the year before, it was decided not to go forward with full production of this item. The product is described as follows:
“A high tech environment fit for these prehistoric inhabitants from the Jurassic period. The Space Cruiser-XT is equipped with a glow in the dark view portal, two red LED lights forbetter night time viewing, and a bubbler for introducing oxygen to their living environment. Everything you need to start and care for your Sea-Monkey aqua-astronauts is included on-board. So let’s go—BLAST OFF!”
Magic Castle™ in the Pink
“How can one resist this enchanted habitat in a reusable bag? The kit comes with all a princess would need to start its very own family of Sea-Monkeys, plus an adorable reusable bag fit for a princess. The little princesses’ duties are so simple; add packet one to 10 ounces of water, wait 24 hours and add Instant Live Eggs packet. Now all that is left to do is watch them come to life and double in size for the first ten days. Starting in the fifth day she needs to feed them once a week and oxygenate the water with the Million Bubble Air-Pump. That is the extend of her royal duties for this enchanted habitat. Once all done she can relax and watch her Sea-Monkey dominion as they swim nonstop in and out of the magical habitat.”
Sea-Monkeys® Complete Birthday Party Pack™
The Complete Birthday Party Pack™ was a large Sea-Monkeys-themed birthday decoration & gift set. It included a Sea-Monkey crown for the birthday person, four Sea-Monkey-shaped candles, a mantle, paper plates, straws, napkins, plastic utensils, invitation cards, & eight gift bags. This set also included enough primary packets, spoons & instruction sheets to put together 8 complete Ocean-Zoo (tanks were included) kits.
This product was fully fledged by early 2007, having already made it to some distributors, and was slated to be released at a later time. But by June of 2007, the Sea-Monkey brand had found itself a new licensee, Big Time Toys. And this product never saw the light of day.
