Excavate rocks and gemstones like a pro! Dig up 10 buried treasure hidden within the clay rock, and then complete activities to learn even more. Kit contains real gemstones, rock and mineral specimens, fossils, excavation tools, chart, and display tray. Perfect for budding archaeologists and paleontologists.
Amazon.com
You thought Indiana Jones was cool, and then you open this box to find a flat clay "rock" about 2 inches high and 4.5 inches in diameter... hmmm. But wait! There are no fewer than 10 artifacts buried in here. Some are fragile (including a real fossil) and some are small and valuable (including a real precious stone). Can you use the included prospector's knife and brush, follow the detailed instructions, and excavate all 10 treasures undamaged? Can you identify them? Can you complete the included logbook accurately enough to win a place as assistant on Indiana's next expedition? Only time and a lot of patience will tell. If you do it, there's a plastic display case and labels for your finds--plus a sealed "Secret Identity Chart" for anything you can't identify. Parent's Choice Foundation Gold Award and National Parenting Center Seal of Approval winner. --Richard Farr
From the Manufacturer
Patience and perseverance are richly rewarded when young prospectors unearth 10 treasures buried deep within this special clay rock. Treasures include a real emerald, a 140 million-year-old dinosaur bone, “fool’s gold”, and seven more specimens. The step-by-step instruction booklet gives tips on what to look for, how to use the excavation tool (included in the kit), and experiments to identify the specimens. Budding scientists learn how to record specimens in the log book and test for various classifications. Additional experiments include creating fossil casts, making and identifying sedimentary layers, and growing crystals. Includes specimen identification chart and display tray.
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
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Customers like the entertainment value of the science fundamentals kit. They mention it's a fun toy that takes patience but is fun. However, some customers feel the size is small for the price.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
3 customers mention3 positive0 negative
Customers find the science fundamentals kit entertaining. They mention it's a fun toy, and it takes patience, but the experience is great.
"I bought this as a Christmas gift for my niece. It is a fun toy & I believe she enoyed using it, but I have to say it was much smaller than I..." Read more
"...They both loved the Mystery Rock. It really gave them hours of entertainment." Read more
"...It takes patience but its fun. The only thing is, two of the stones or gems that are included in the 9 that you get are teeny tiny little beads...." Read more
4 customers mention0 positive4 negative
Customers are dissatisfied with the size of the science fundamentals kit. They mention that the digging rock and gems they find are smaller than expected, and the mystery rock matrix is small for the price.
"...a fun toy & I believe she enoyed using it, but I have to say it was much smaller than I thought it would be. It comes in a VERY small box...." Read more
"...It was a little small for the price but he loved it." Read more
"...The first disappointment was the size of the mystery rock "matrix" (i.e., the clay that the rocks and gems are hidden in)...." Read more
"...Everything the digging rock and the gems you find were a little smaller than I had expected." Read more
I bought this as a Christmas gift for my niece. It is a fun toy & I believe she enoyed using it, but I have to say it was much smaller than I thought it would be. It comes in a VERY small box. For the price, I wish it was bigger.
Large to medium rocks show on the package and in pictures, tiny little rocks in the actual product. Also, the digging tool is very low quality and you will likely end up using something else, like a small hammer and chisel. I strongly suggest buying another digging set; one NOT by Educational Insights/GeoSafari.
This was a gift for my grandson. He absolutely loved digging in the rock to find the treasures. He is fascinated by rocks and fossils so this was the perfect gift for it. It was a little small for the price but he loved it.
My 10 year old daughter loves everything rock, fossil, and gem-related. She BEGGED me to get her this for Christmas. I thought it looked pretty cool, so I did. My mistake was not reading the reviews first. I agree with all the issues others have mentioned here, but I'll state them again. The first disappointment was the size of the mystery rock "matrix" (i.e., the clay that the rocks and gems are hidden in). It was maybe 7 inches in diameter and three inches thick, max. Second, upon opening the box, we discovered that there are only 9 (or maybe 10, the information on this was contradictory) specimens in the matrix, NOT 15 as pictured on the box. Third, I understand why they give you a plastic excavation tool to unearth the rocks, so as not to damage them (they are quite small, and some are also fragile) but geez, this thing mostly wore out before she even got the first specimen out of the matrix. We resorted to carefully using the pointy end of a metal can/bottle opener. Fourth disappointment - after excavating the tiny pieces of turquoise and malachite (we think - the "malachite" was actually just a tiny bead of some sort, same with the "emerald", which was not only a bead, but I'm fairly sure it may even be made of plastic), my daughter pretty much lost interest in this. We resorted to dissolving the rest of the clay in water to unearth the rest of the specimens and straining the water to make sure we weren't missing anything. Made a huge mess, but the dissolving was actually the most fun part about this whole thing. My daughter's comment, "when they say hours of fun on the box, they really mean hours of work, for not much payoff," pretty much sums up this product. And the most educational thing about this product is a lesson in the powers of false advertising.
I gave this to my 7 year old. He was very excited at first and so was I. It turns out that you will have to scrape the surface of this rock very, very hard and patiently, just like the real thing I guess, and we never had enough patience to get to any rock before this rock was put away. Also it is a very dusty job and that makes me not want my son to keep on scraping because he is inhaling this dust, I guess you could wear a dust mask, and that can never be good. Also there is a label on the box warning that some rocks might contain lead.....so if you are also worried about that this is not a good toy.
Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2007
Our son just got this product for Christmas and was very excited to begin excavating for the items shown on the box label. Imagine our suprise when what actually is found is nothing at all like the labeling. The size of the items is miniscule compared to the box pictures and there was definitely no "genuine emerald" in the rock. This toy took approximately 30 minutes to "investigate" and the "tools" that it came with were not of a very high quality. Save your money and try a different approach!
