Disclaimer: We were sent these National Geographic STEM Science Kits (Crystal Garden and Dig Kits) from Bandai to review free of charge, but words and pictures are mine. This post contains affiliate links, see more information here.
This week is National Science Week, and my children have been really excited to be learning all about science at school. In fact my daughter has been coming home, and making her own ‘experiments’ in the name of ‘doing science’; yesterday’s involved mixing half a bottle of Carex with water which is just fabulous given you can no longer get it unless you trade a kidney on the black market, so I was very glad when a bundle of National Geographic STEM science kits from Bandai turned up!
We received a Crystal Garden Kit, a Dino Fossil Dig Kit, a Gemstone Dig Kit, and a Shark Tooth Mini Dig Kit to play with and discover.
National Geographic Crystal Garden
Starting off with the Crystal Growing Kit, which has an RRP of £9.99.
Inside of the kit you get two trees with stands and solution, instructions and a real geode to collect!
Colour the trees in front and back in any way you want to. The more colours, the funkier your crystal tree will be!
Then put the trees together and stand them up inside their trays. Mix the solution with water and pour over the trees and then place them somewhere where you can see them bloom!
I was surprised at how quickly this happened – within a few hours, crystals were already starting to form on the edges of the trees, and left overnight there was an impressive amount around the edges (though maybe not quite as much as the packaging may suggest).
Note that if you tap or wobble the trees, then the crystals will flake off. They are not made to be kept for a long period of time, and can be disposed of in the bin after a few days.
National Geographic Dig Kits
We were also sent a Dino Fossil Dig Kit and a Gemstone Dig Kit.
The Dig Kits, which also retail at £9.99, contain a small plaster block shaped like a dino or a gem, a digging tool, a brush and a magnifying glass. They also come with instructions as well as a booklet which tells you all about your finds.
To use the Dig Kit, unwrap the plastic on the plaster block. Find somewhere flat and easy to clean to do your dig – definitely not on carpet! Outside would be preferable as there can be a bit of dust. Using the box as a base for the plaster is a good idea.
Use the tools to chip away at the block to uncover the secret finds! If it’s a bit hard, adding water will soften up the plaster block.
If you find an object, dig carefully around it until it can be prised out, use the brush to get the dust off and then rinse it with water to clean it off. Once all three have been found, discard the box and plaster and read up about your new treasures in the booklet.
In the Gem Dig Kit, you can find and collect a quartz, amethyst, and tiger’s eye gemstone. In the Dino Fossil kit, you’ll uncover a real dinosaur bone fragment, a mosasaur tooth, and even some fossilised dino poop!
The kits are great fun and the fact that you have real gems and fossils to keep and collect at the end of your dig makes them even more exciting for kids!
They have a recommended age of 8+ but are easy to use for supervised children who are 4+.
We were also sent a smaller Shark Tooth Mini Dig Kit. This kit contains a real sharks tooth.
This is likely to be cheaper than the other two kits (which are priced at £9.99 each) making it perfect for a birthday gift, but I could not yet find it on sale in the UK.
How much and where to buy
The larger kits retail at £9.99 each which I think is a great price for something the kids will love doing, and they can keep the gems, fossils and booklets once they are done with the growing or digging.
They can be purchased from large toy retailers and from Amazon using the affiliate links below.
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My favourite is the Crystal Garden.
crystal garden
My favourite is the crystal Tree
Gemstone dig kit
The Dino Fossil Dig Kit.
I love the Crystal garden!
I like the mini dig kit. I took three of my granddaughters to York on a dig and they loved it.
Crystal Garden
Gemstone dig kit
I love the crystal garden most, but all of them look good
What an awesome kit. I have a nephew who would adore this.
They are all good but my favourite is Crystal Garden
shark tooth mini dig kit x
the crystal garden, I remember growing crystals when I was young and found it enthralling
The gemstone dig kit looks really good x
crystal garden
I think my girls would love the crystal garden
I love the crystal garden, i could have great fun doing it with my granddaughter
Nat Geo make a meteorite dig kit which looks really cool! We’re (hopefully!) going on a caravan holiday in a few weeks where there is no wi-fi so will be getting some little craft kits to take with us!
The crystal garden one looks so cool! Would love to try it out with my kids
Dino fossil dig kit! We had one and the kids loved it!
I think i would have to say the gem garden looks great fun
The Crystal Garden kit, I’m sure my granddaughter would love it.
The gemstone kit looks so good!
I love the crystal garden
Love the Crystal tree xx
I think my children would enjoy the crystal garden the most
The Crystal garden kit
Gemstone dig kit
I love the crystal garden
I’d love the crystal tree for my grandson as I remember them from my childhood
Looks great, my nephew would love this!!
the crystal garden kits
The Gemstone Dig Kit is my favourite but I would also love to buy the children the Shark Tooth Mini Dig Kit. What fun!
Gem stone dig out. Always fancied myself as an archaeologist!
The crystal garden!
Gemstone dig kit
I love the Crystal Garden
Love the crystal garden
Loving the Crystal Garden
Crystal Garden, thankyou for the competition x
Loving the gemstone kit, many thanks
Gemstone dig kit b
WOW WOW WOW THE CRYSTAL GARDEN KIT LOOKS INCREDIBLE!!! MY CHILDREN WOULD LOVE THIS!!!!!
Dino fossil dig kit!
Dino Fossil dig!
The Crystal Garden as it takes me back to my childhood.
The Crystal Garden
I like the Dino Fossil Dig Kit.
Gemstone dig kit
The Dino Fossil Dig Kit because my grandson is obsessed with dinosaurs!
The Crystal Garden is my favourite but all are really fab.
Love the gemstone kit
The Crystal Garden. I remember growing crystals many moons ago!
I like the crystal garden set, Thanks for the giveaway.
I think the Crystal Growing Kit is something my daughter would enjoy the most. Very exciting!
Gemstone Dig kit
I love the tree, so would my granddaughter
This looks amazing, my grandchildren would love it .
The crystal garden
crystal garden
The Crystal Garden my grandson would love this
I think my daughter would love the crystal garden it looks great
I love the dino fossil kit … I love watching Time Team 🙂
I like the crystal garden
The crystal garden looks fabulous, I remember doing those kits myself as a child! ❤
My favourite is the shark tooth mini dig kit.
The crystal garden
The Crystal Garden is my favourite
The Crystal Garden looks amazing xx
Crystal garden
The crystal garden looks great fun and magical.
The boys would love the Dino Fossil Dig Kit
Ths Crystal Garden looks great.
Crystal Garden Kit