National Geographic Dig Kits Review
Reviewed by Louise Totton
My eldest daughter (aged 9) is a bit of a budding geologist recently – following a topic at school that really captured her imagination, she has developed a real interest in shells, fossils, gemstones and the like. We actually spent a whole afternoon out on a walk the other week where she talked incessantly about her favourite fossil hunter, Mary Anning, and was able to recite more facts about her and her work than I ever would have thought possible!
Nine-year-olds are at a difficult age, whereby they consider themselves too old for a lot of toys but they are certainly too young to be spending big chunks of time stuck in their bedrooms watching TV or playing computer games, so finding something that captures their imagination and that you as a parent are happy with is always a great find! And anything with some kind of educational value is an even bigger bonus and, in our house at least, a rare thing. So, I’m sure you can imagine we had both high hopes and crossed fingers when we were asked to try out a couple of National Geographic’s Dig Kits – we were sent the Gemstone Dig Kit and the Shark Tooth Dig Kit.
Both of the Dig Kits come really nicely packaged in cardboard boxes, each of which giving the would-be excavator a glimpse of what they will find inside. They are both STEM toys, meaning they promote at least one aspect of either Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematical education and both of them contain a learning guide in addition to the excavation products themselves.
The first one we tried out was the Gemstone Dig Kit – no great surprise there as I think most girls like pretty and shiny gemstones! Within the cardboard outer box is a cardboard tray containing all of the parts – no plastic here, which is great to see. There is a dig brick, shaped like an amethyst, which promises to contain three genuine gemstones (Quartz, Amethyst and Tiger’s Eye), a magnifying glass, 2 excavation tools and the learning guide.
The learning guide is a nicely produced A5 booklet with lovely, thick and glossy colour pages. These pages talk about different types of gemstones, how gemstones are used as well as some famous and infamous gemstones, before going into more detail about the three gemstones that we hoped to find in the dig brick. My daughter loved reading this little book and I feel it really whetted her appetite the main activity.
The dig brick is about the size of an adult hand, which looks pretty small on first glance but actually when you use it, you realise that it is probably an optimal size. The dig brick is made from a plaster type material with 3D gemstones moulded into the top surface. The kit comes with two excavation tools – a plastic pick/scraper and a brush for finer excavation work, as well as a magnifying glass for examining your finds. The plaster is soft enough that the plastic tool can be used successfully to slowly dig away at the brick, but not so soft that it makes it too easy and quick for the junior geologist.
The kids really do have to use their patience with this one, even when they think they have unearthed one of the gemstones, they have to slowly commence excavation using the tool, brush and magnifying glass so as not to damage the specimen. Sometimes it feels like you’re not getting anywhere with your digging, in which case a spritz of water softens the plaster a little and helps the dig along.
I’m sure you can imagine the excitement when we located our first gemstone, which for us was the Quartz. By this point, my younger daughter had made her way over and was incredibly excited as her big sister unearthed a ‘diamond’, which was then followed by the amethyst and the tiger’s eye. The stones look slightly dull when they are initially unearthed because they are dry and covered in plaster dust. A quick soak in water and a clean-up with the brush soon as them looking shiny, precious and very impressive. My eldest was clearly really impressed with her finds as they now have pride of place on her bedside table along with the learning guide and she hasn’t stopped talking about them since she uncovered them!
The Shark Tooth Dig Kit works in a very similar way to the Gemstones Dig Kit. This time, rather than being shaped like an amethyst, the dig block is shaped like a very toothy shark and is equally cool looking and contains three shark teeth fossils. The learning guide with the shark kit is just as informative as the gemstones one, containing information about sharks as a species, shark teeth and fossils, threats to sharks’ natural habitat as well as myths and facts about these fabulous creatures, before talking about the different sharks whose teeth fossils are contained in the dig brick.
The kids loved this one too – we did find the excavation a little harder with this one because the teeth fossils are smaller than the gemstones and are also a very similar colour to the plaster of the dig brick. Having said that, they still had a wonderful time searching for their treasures, and when they found them, comparing them to the images in the learning guide.
These activity sets are absolutely fantastic for children aged 8 year and upwards, especially if you have a child who is as interested in stuff like this as mine is. She quite happily spent nearly an hour all told on each kit, which I think make these a superb rainy-day activity. She felt like she was working towards something and there is a natural end to the activity too, which I always find helps when the kids are feeling a bit frustrated with being stuck indoors.
At around £10 per kit, I think these are brilliant value, especially when you bear in mind the educational aspect and the fact that they do have their three little treasures to keep at the end of the activity. It isn’t overly messy – I set her up doing this on an old baking tray and I would suggest doing something like that to help keep all of the plaster dust contained; than that, clean up only takes a matter of minutes.
I don’t hesitate in rating these at 5/5 – they’re a fabulous way to spend any afternoon, rainy or not!
Rating: 5/5
Available to buy from Amazon.
