Science Kits for Kids Age 6 7 8-12 Boys Girls - Gemstone Dig Kit- Break Open 12 Gemstones Blocks Discover 13 Real Precious Gemstones Crystal Diamond Learn About Mineralogy & Geology - STEM Toys

My 6y old nephew loved it!

My 8 year old son really enjoyed playing with this. Kept him entertained during half term and off electronics.

My nephew will absolutely love this for his birthday - looks great quality and a perfect gift idea

This ships in a box measuring 38 x 14 x 7 cm, each block is about 5 x 5 x 3 cm.Initial attempts dry chipping with the supplied wooden ‘hammers’ and ‘chisels’ proved frustratingly slow, we found it worthwhile to pour water over the unwrapped chalky block before starting. When damp, the material is quite soft and more easily gouged by an adult’s hands and the wooden ‘chisel’. My granddaughter struggled and got bored, so I ended up doing most of the work, including rubbing off the final pieces of ‘chalk’. We only did 6 of the 12 in one sitting, noting that the colour of the chalk does not correspond to the stone inside. The following day, we started again and found the ‘diamond’ in one of the blocks, in addition to the usual gemstone, this might have easily been missed/overlooked. Fortunately, most of the gemstones are quite close to the surface. In the end, grandad decided to speed up the process by bringing a bigger hammer to the party - and we finished the last four much quicker. As you can see from the photos, it makes quite a mess, but this does clean up.Many of the ‘gemstones’ are small, polished cubes of (presumably) the appropriate rock type, most about 8mm on each side, some are a bit bigger and irregularly shaped, see my photos.Similar products are priced a little lower than the £25.99 on this one. In terms of perceived value by myself, I’d have been happier (if I had paid) if priced at say £19.99. It did provide a shared experience for granddad and 6-year-old granddaughter and is something I’m glad we did.For safety, the supplied tools are quite ineffective unless the blocks are soaked and even then, the hammers have so little weight as to be useless. I couldn’t find a reference to wearing eye protection, but the powdery nature of the dry blocks, especially if wetted, did seem to make this a non-issue. Only the gemstones and ‘diamond’ got taken home by Mum and granddaughter.

I'm not impressed at all with this particular kit.It started off looking ok, opened the box to find: 12 Coloured blocksChipping toolsA brushA magnifying glassand 13 Gem cards ( facial cards).So clearly, 13 cards and 12 blocks, one of the gems isn't present in the blocks.Reading through the 13 'fact cards', which show origin of the gem/stone, and a little paragraph of 'facts' about the gem you have just found, to be able to identify it..On the front of the card is the Gem and name to identify it, on the back of the card is the origin and facts.This is a total mess."Unakite" facts card gives facts and information on "Redstone""Redstone" facts card gives facts and information on "Unakite""Aventurine" facts card states the origin of the stone is from "Aventurine" instead of a Country or Continent... and the facts write up for Aventurine, is again the exact same text write up for "Unakite".This is promoting young children to identify the gem/stones with the 'fact cards' and read alittle about their findings.This is totally impossible when the facts are not even consistant with the right gem/stone in the first place and provides this mis-information.I do not recommend this item.This item is not giftable to any child (or adult) at least till the facts and information issues have been resolved.