NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Purple Crystal Growing Lab - DIY Crystal Creation - Includes Real Amethyst Crystal Specimen

Great birthday gift for our granddaughter

My kids (ages 5 and 7) and I had a lot of fun with this kit. The instructions are pretty easy and the steps are pretty kid friendly, as far as stirring and mixing goes. An adult does need to help, though, since there is hot water and powdery elements involved. Be mindful of the glass you use to grow the crystals in. Make sure the top of the glass or jar is as wide as the base. I used a tulip glass and found myself breaking the glass with a hammer in order to get the crystals out. The crystals themselves are pretty cool, too. I let them sit in the glass for about two weeks. And, yes, they do glow in the dark. The kit also includes a large flourite crystal and some education on crystals in general. The kids really enjoyed it and would check on the crystals' growth every day.

My 8 year old son got this kit for Christmas. He loves all kinds of science and experiments so he was very excited to grow his own crystal. We had fun setting up the crystal and he enjoyed checking the glass every day to see how it was growing. But when it was time to get the crystal out, we ran into a problem. The thing was completely stuck to the glass we grew it in. I tried the suggested butter knife to loosen it but it did nothing. I tried hot water on the outside of the glass hoping to loosen it but that didn't work either. Finally I put some hot water inside, knowing it would dissolve the crystal and hoping a little would be enough to dislodge it. I was able to get a small chunk of it out but the rest broke apart (from the hot water I am sure). Luckily my son was happy to get even the small piece so it wasn't a total waste. Plus the kit comes with a sample piece and a nice little stand to he has that as well. Overall, a great idea it just would have been better if the crystal didn't adhere quite so well to the glass!

I got this last minute on a whim. It's the best Christmas present she got. She's obsessed with the "Crystal book" that came with the kit. That was a nice added bonus. My 3yo now wants to be a scientist when she grows up. I'll definitely be checking out more NatGeo products in the future.Kit takes less than 10 min to put together. Just enough time. I definitely recommend letting it sit the extra time as recommended. And with this color you cant watch it grow because the purple is so dark. Didn't bother us because it was an awesome surprise when we poured out the liquid.Word of advice-- use a wide mouth glass container. I had to bust the mason jar to get the crystal out because it was so big!

I love the concept of the National Geographic science kits. We got a kit that included several experiments, they all worked except the crystal did nothing! These kits are fun to do with children but an adult supervision is necessary. The crystal activity I followed the instructions I thought exactly using purified water, boiled in stainless steel, set the project in a glass heat-proof vessel. No crystal. We now have done this 3 times. Success only once, the very 1st try. So now I wonder if the "seed" is not good? I know this can work but it is unpredictable and disappointing for the child. If you get the one with the numerous crystals and the light stand, it is too difficult to scrape away the bottom of the crystal to have the light show through thus the crystal cracks and falls apart. Anyone want to add suggestions to have a successful crystal each and every time with these kits?

My 7-year-old girl was so excited when she unwrapped this on Christmas! Santa also brought some science equipment, so we dressed up (lab coat and safety goggles - both not necessary) to get the crystal started. Instructions were clear and easy to follow. We kept it in a safe place for a week. When we first took a look when the week was up, she was disappointed because some water had evaporated, but she couldn't see a crystal. Then I poured out the remaining water - HUGE (her words) crystal! We used a container slightly larger in diameter than an average coffee mug and the whole bottom was covered with little crystal spikes, with a tall "mountain" of large crystals in the center. She immediately brought it up to her room and put in in a place of honor!My only (tiny!) quibble is that my dad was looking for an ingredients list and couldn't find one, even after searching the internet. He's a chemist, so he was curious about this. Nonetheless, he thought it was pretty cool too

My daughter enjoyed the project very much. We finally drained the remaining liquid today and removed the crystal from the growing chamber. It did break when being removed but we ended up with a decent sized chuck. I was out of paper towels so I grabbed a sheet of foil to place the crystals on until the completely air dry. Well, my husband came home from work and pulled me aside. He asked very bluntly why there is meth on our kitchen counter. I googled pictures of meth and it sure as heck looks like meth. We got a good laugh. I definitely won't leave it sitting out on foil anymore though. We will check if it glows in the dark and I'll update if it doesn't.

I totally recommend this kit! I got it for my 4yo son. We were checking on it couple times a day, it was fun to watch it grow, it got to 6cm or a little over 2 inches. I think less liquid and heating it up to dissolve all the powder was the key, so solution was very saturated and it grew super fast. It only took 5 days to get this result. The only thing I didn’t like was the blue color that’s pretty hard to wash off hands, so maybe we’ll try colorless one next time.