Dig & Display Fossil STEM Kit

My kids are love dinosaurs and fossils and had so much fun discovering the 8 hidden fossils in this kit. The surface does not need to be wet to dig, which I appreciate, so the kids can go straight to digging! The prized fossil they found was the real shark tooth! It took them about an hour to dig through the entire set. My kids are ages 5 & 8 and both equally enjoyed. The box also converts to a display case so they can proudly display their findings!

I got this as a gift for my nephew. He is fascinated with dinosaurs and fossils. He loves the gift so much, I will be purchasing another for my son. Kids can learn so much about archeologist’s experiences with these fun sets. A booklet is included to teach kids more about the fossils.

My 4 year old daughter has become more interested in dinosaurs and the like so when I came across this I decided to give it a try. She's been enjoying watching videos about digging up fossils and the trips to the museum.When it came in she couldn't wait to get it open and start digging. The tools are surprisingly sturdy (one a pick/scraper and the other a magnifying glass/brush. They're chonky and easy to hold for smaller hands, which is good because...The disc is solid. I was expecting it to be crumbly medium that falls apart after a few hits but no. This is hard and holds together surprisingly well. My daughter really had to get in there with her pick to start taking chunks out of the medium.There are 8 fossils in the medium, and overall aren't hard to find. They are a challenge (for a kid) to extract, but that makes it more fun. My daughter first found the crinoid and was pretty excited when she realized it was a fossil. After that, she got the hang of it and extracted the other fossils a bit easier. Overall it took a few hours and she was engaged the whole time.This was also a great learning experience for her. Discovering what all the fossils were, where they came from and how they formed helped her understand what she was looking at and why people dig them up in the first place.Overall, this was a fun, educational experience for her. She was able to get dirty, do something she has seen others doing and learned something in the process. My only issue was the "shelf" bits didn't seem to be included in the pack although it came sealed but that's not too big of an issue for me since she keeps them in a small sample jar in her room. For $20 this is a much better experience than some random toy and it kept her away from her screens and enjoying learning for a few hours.

This fossil kit is a fantastic STEM activity for young elementary school children. It arrives with a plastic rock hammer, a magnifying glass with a "brush" on the bottom, a colored excavation site (with the fossils buried according to type, such as aquatic in the blue zone). The "museum" display is very easy to assemble and the kit arrives with a guided manual for both setup and exploration of the excavation. This includes detailed reading on each fossil you will excavate. The manual book reads just like a homeschool lesson; you can read from it directly and it engages your children and holds their interest. When they have their fossil, it is great to read further about it and then add it to the display.I found that all the fossils were closer to the surface than I expected. It took quite a bit of time to locate our first one as my sons (aged 6 and 8) focused on one area that did not contain a fossil. I ended up having to help them. This block is very solid and required a lot of effort to "pop" each fossil out. All in all it took us an hour to get all the fossils out, but this includes the time my sons worked on digging in the one spot. It is easy to break apart though when you use water. Despite using a sand bin instead of the "fossil area" provided on the box, the dirt gets everywhere, especially when you need to pop a fossil out. I would recommend doing this activity outside, if possible.All in all, this was a fantastic STEM activity that I would definitely recommend. It would work great if you are homeschooling or doing remote learning as it is a complete science lesson. It is very hands-on and educational and the material was at a level my six and eight year old could understand. There are a lot of colored images for them to look through and the pages about the fossils you excavate makes this a very exciting lesson.

Do yourself a favor and do this one outside!!!! I made the mistake of trying to do it on the kitchen table, and I even had a large clear tarp under it to catch all the dust. Well, that didn't work. Dust was everywhere, and got pushed off the table and into a fine mist on the ground. And then my kids kept walking through the dust and spreading it all across the hardwood floors. Lesson learned!Now, pretending that I'd done it outside I'd say I liked the set. It came with a very simple plastic pick, and a neat little magnifying glass with a convenient brush at the end. The fossils in the set were simple but interesting, and the case was creative because it turned into a simple display box to show the fossils.I'd call this a great rainy day activity but that would mean you'd have to do this activity INSIDE, and you all know how I feel about that!!! How about I call it a nice SUNNY day activity, as a break for when the kids are running all around the yard.And, oh yeah, the caked clay is pretty hard to dig, so you very well may want to pour water on it (to soften it up)... yet another reason to do this outside. (And, honestly, you'll probably want to use something metal for the digging -like a fork or a dull knife, or maybe a screwdriver... unless it is very wet and turns a little muddy it is very hard to get to the fossils with the tools provided).I still give it 5 stars because it is an inexpensive science activity, and we need a lot more of those.Recommended.

Maravilloso, fósiles reales!!! Perfecto para niños y niñas

I bought this product for our grandson. He was delighted

This is a super fun and educational toy that can provide kids with several hours of enjoyment and learning. I love the fact that children can also be rewarded at the end of using this toy with their very own fossils to keep. It is however a but messy so maybe put done a table cloth or hoover right after using it.

Learning Resources are a company that specialise in toys that have added educational value, in the case of 'Dig and Display Fossil Kit' this is achieved by making the experience more professional. We have played with this type of thing before, you normally find a fossil or toy and that is it. The added value here is that it all feels a little more real as if you are recreating the experience of a well to do Victorian who has enough time to partake in an archaeological pastime.The 'ground' itself is fun. A hardened sandy concrete stuff that has layers that are meant to represent the different layers of the Earth's crust. The tools are also a higher quality. A little pick, magnifying glass and brush. They are based on more realistic looking tools. You also get to display your finds in a mini museum of your own that is the box. To the right type of child these little extras will inspire. Others may just see it as a one and done toy that can prove quite an expensive option. Best for children that think themselves budding palaeontologists.

My 6 year old son recently had a “fossil digging” toy that he thoroughly enjoyed breaking apart to find a plastic skeleton, so I got him this set to add to his Christmas presents.In the box you get a round chunk of plaster that is split into 2 colours to represent the land and the sea and you then use the supplied tools to excavate and find the hidden fossils.This set differs to his previous one in that the product actually contains real fossils - You can then convert the box into a display case to keep them in.The tools are made of plastic but feel pretty solid. You get a small pick axe and a magnifying glass that also has a brush on the opposite end to sweep away the plaster.***** In The Box *****1 x Digging Block2 x Tools1 x Guide8 x Fossils (Shark Tooth, Crinoid, Bivalve, Atrypa, Petridied Wood, Coprolite, 2 x Gastropods).***** Conclusion *****Although I haven’t given the set to my son yet, so haven’t seen the fossils, I am looking forward to seeing him find the fossils hidden inside. Knowing that the fossils are actually real and not plastic toys will fascinate him.I really like that the digging block has been split into 2 sections so that you can learn which fossils are usually found in the sea or on land.The price seems pretty reasonable considering you get real fossils and not just a simple piece of plastic and I like that the box turns into a show case.