National Geographic Mega Fossil and Gemstone Dig Kits - Excavate 10 Real Fossils and 10 Real Gems, Great STEM Science Gift for Mineralogy and Geology Enthusiasts of Any Age

Good product

Our grandson thoroughly enjoyed digging for the the gems and fossils.We found 22, more gems then fossils,fun .

Nephew dug straight in, literally, on unwrapping it for Christmas. Well worth the price as the stones inside are not huge, but authentic and great quality.

Great activity for the kids. The kit included x10 gemstones and x10 fossils in a dig brick. Comes with a learning guide so as they find each gemstone or fossil they can learn about it. We did have 2 of the same gemstones in our one which was slightly annoying but not the end of the world. The kids had fun with it and also learned a lot. It is however on the pricer side.

As this is a Christmas present for my grandchild I’m unable to give a review but it was what she wanted most for Christmas!

Great quality gems and fossils and lots of them too! My kids found it exciting unearthing their finds. A huge success!

Time taken to excavate: 1hr 20mins + 30 mins or so to clean off stubborn plasterAdditional tools needed: A few toothpicks and soft bristle brush (eg toothbrush) to clean off stubborn plasterSo with a well covered work surface we set to work on our ‘dig’ (only one scrapping tool provided so you’ll need to take turns if there’s 2 or more of you). In seconds we had discovered something. The treasures in this one were pretty much right next to each other except for a couple of them. The plaster is quite hard and dusty so we did use a fair bit of water - especially when working around the dig treasures so as not to damage anything. The crystals are a lot better and bigger than ones you usually find loose to buy in shops. The fossils are fascinating.Once we had found them all we put them into a bowl of water to soak but found that, on the less smooth bits, the plaster didn’t come off so easily. A toothbrush and toothpicks helped. Then there is the desert rose where the plaster is stuck in every single nook and cranny - this took us ages to get the plaster off and made 3 toothpicks blunt in the process. We got most of the plaster off but there is still the odd bit that I’ll try and remove when it’s dry.The brush you get comes across as a little cheap and isn’t that effective, the double-sided grey plastic dig tool - I found the slanted side much easier to use than straight edge side, the magnifying glass is a little tricky to see through so if you have a better one at home you’ll probably want to use that.This is a great kit for an afternoon because you have your dig time, cleaning your specimens time, then you can enjoy reading up about your discoveries in the booklet provided. If you’re a kid you’ll love learning about the items you find, and if your an adult who always wished you could be Indiana Jones (without encountering the snakes) then you’ll probably love this too.

Whilst this item seems like a good concept and it did keep my 7 yo sons attention for a good hour or so, upon completion I had a very disappointed little boy as not all 10 gemstone’s nor the full set of 10 fossils were present in the kit - we only had 9 fossils and 6 gemstones (the Geode was one of the missing items which was one he was looking forward to the most) I have since read more of the reviews and found that there a fair few also stating they had missing pieces too. Very disappointing given the item is listed as containing 20 pieces, 10 of each. You definitely don’t get what you pay for with this kit. Maybe avoid if you don’t want to risk having a disappointed child.