Dazzling STEM Excavation

I must mention that we haven't tried very many of these digging sets before, but that being said, my kids loved it. They're 1, 6 and 4. And honestly if you throw in a few plastic butter knives, you don't have to worry about rationing out dig time. (Yes, they shared one block.)
Anyways, the plaster was a good enough consistency that it wasn't extremely hard to get through and not so sandy that it crumbles in between your fingers. The rocks were a bit lumped in together, but (in my opinion) had enough plaster in-between.

Anyone looking for an activity that'll keep your little ones independently occupied (without the constant "Mommy/Daddy"...) NEEDS to have this in the toy closet. It's definitely an outdoor activity, since the plaster makes dust. And it's obviously a one time use, at least an hour of play, who can beat it? The tool that comes with it has a serrated edge on one side (like a dull butter knife) and a little mallet on the other side. He used it like a saw. Seriously, he's doing it now and has been at it long enough for me to empty dishes, load dishes :)

My kids ages 3-12 all really enjoyed this kit. They took turns "mining", and were thrilled with all of the crystals they found. The plaster was really messy, so it would be great to do this outside, or just cover your area and be ready to clean up after (and change clothes- we all had plaster powder all over us). Despite the mess, this was a fun and educational project. It went well with learning about rocks and minerals. All of my kids enjoyed it, and we found well more than 8 crystals.

My daughter wanted a kit for everyone in the family for her birthday so I bought two of these and two nat geo kits. Turned out to be a good combination with a good variety of stones.

Seriously a great purchase! I have three girls and each of them worked for over 9 minutes each on her kit. My quiet, reserved 8.5 year old was the most enthusiastic and diligent, examining each discovery with the included magnifying plastic glass, looking up the stones in the booklet, and recoding the information on the included collection display (parent assistance is definitely necessary for this part bc there are tabs that need to be inserted on the collection card).