Customer Reviews

Educational Insights GeoSafari Prospector's Mystery Rock

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

My husband and I got this for our 7 year old daughter as a holiday gift in December 2003. We love it because long after the other holiday gifts have been forgotten about, this one still brings our daughter excitement. She just found the last gem this month (10 months later!). This is a messy gift - when we use it, we lay down newspaper and wear aprons, but nothing ever stained. Looking for the gems does require patience, but I liked that about this gift/toy because it took patience and perseverance in order to obtain the prize - most toys these days are instant gratification. We highly recommend this item.

My almost 8 year old daughter had a lot of fun with this. Not only did she like digging the items out of the rock but liked washing them off and trying to figure out what the items were and recording the info in the journal and in the end learning about each item. It is messy - lots of dust - but a few newspapers spread out works o.k.

I bought this for my daughter for Christmas. When she unwrapped the package she didn't think much of it but once she learned what it was exactly she became excited. The first time she worked on it she spent an hour and then became bored with it. Then I had an idea to have her use a water spray bottle and since then she has had a blast. Spraying the water helps to soften the clay enough to where they can dig and feel like they are getting somewhere. So far she has unearthed 3 things. Warning for parents: Make certain your child is wearing old clothes and that you have something covering the child's work surface and beneath the chair especially if they are working over a carpeted area.

First of all, you are guaranteed a genuine emerald by Educational Insights...what did we get? A green BEAD. With a hole in it and everything. That's no emerald, folks...

Also, the plastic knife is fairly useless against this tough material. I finally took out my dissecting kit and helped my son out, but then we finally decided to do what others have suggested, and soften the "rock" up with water - instead of spraying, we actually put it in a tub of water and let it soften a little at a time. This makes things fairly messy, but if you prepare with old clothes, a washcloth, and lots of newspaper it's not too much of a problem.

So be prepared to work hard or compromise the approach...and don't necessarily expect a real emerald in there! That was the most disappointing thing for us, because it seems dishonest and my son was so excited to be looking for a genuine, valuable gemstone.

my 7 year old daughter and I spent hours finding the rocks fossils and gems in this activity.It is messy. the clay as it is removed is very fine.it was best for us to do this project outside,but that didnt take away from the experience.in fact it added to the realism.emma wants me to order another one even if it is identical

I bought this for my nine year-old daughter. She was excited at first, but after hours of scraping and uncovering nothing, she got a bit frustrated at the slow pace. Also, the plastic tool wore down quickly, slowing things down even more and requiring much more elbow grease! I finally knocked the clay matrix against a hard surface and broke off a good chunk so she could see the objects inside. Then it became much more easy and fun to retrieve the treasures!

Our nine-year old enjoyed both the "dig" and the process of examining the yield. Definitely messy - we did it outside - and somewhat challenging given the "tool" which is essentially a plastic knife. Ultimately used a brass-bristle brush which was effective. She was outraged by the claim of a "genuine emerald" which was simply a glass bead; calling into question the legitimacy of all statements associated with the product. Dropping the false claim(s) would actually strengthen the product, the customer satisfaction, and likelihood of recommending it to others.

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!

The premise is great but I think most kids just don't have the amount of patience needed for this. You have to dig the stuff out which is VERY messy(think muddy and dusty) and time consuming. However they will be rewarded.

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.