National Geographic Mega Crystal Growing Kit with 8 Crystals Ages 8-12

This science project is so much fun. My tow sons helped make crystals and they absolutely fell in love with the experiment. You do get different results each time you make the different colored crystals. They do take about 4 days to completely form but it was worth the wait.

Reading some of the other reviews made me slightly nervous, but I found this to be a wonderful product that grows beautiful crystals and made a six year old girl extremely happy. I followed the instructions carefully, using bottled water and avoiding aluminum pots. I boiled the water in a stainless steel pot. The instructions said to let the crystals grow for 7-10 days, but after 10 days they didn’t appear to be finished. I let them continue growing until the solution had dissolved to just above the tip of the crystals. This took 16 days. Removing the crystals from the silicone chambers was super easy. The seed rock removal took care and patience. I used the tip of a sharp knife to carefully pry out the seed rock with no damage to the crystals. You’ll have to chip away at that excess growth around the seed (the same crumbly crystal debris that grows on the sides of the chamber). I thought the colors were beautiful and bright, and they look so pretty on the included light up display. All in all, we are very happy with this product. My four year old is now asking for the same set for her upcoming birthday.

I bought this for my step son who turned 9, he doesn't "care for school" right now. This has been an exciting way to learn a little about science though. He likes rocks, crystals and gems. They give you really cool gemstones and decent size too. His first one he didn't stir as well and the crystals ended up more short and stubby, but the second one he stirred alot longer and the crystals have grown longer and more defined. We've only done 2 at a time so far, and so it's an ongoing project that is a fun thing to watch and teach some patience.

I bought this set for my 6 year old daughter's Christmas gift and overall it's pretty interesting. Like other reviewers have noted, the seed rock is NOT EASY to remove! The instructions are ambiguous as to whether you're suppose to try to remove it as soon as you pour out the water or after you've waited for it to dry. And prying out w/ a spoon definitely seems like a BAD idea. So far I've grown 2 and the first one I tried to pry out the seed rock as soon as I poured out the water and while it was easier to take out the rock, the crystal was also much more fragile and crumbled quite a bit. Thankfully it was still intact enough to put on the stand. With the 2nd one I decided to wait till it was dry and it was still extremely difficult to take out. I took the advice of 1 reviewer to use a blade to score around the seed rock and there was still a bit of crumbling of the crystal but a little less. So for future crystals I will probably use that method. There seems to be no easy way to do it (I don't want to use a drill) and there seems to be no way to avoid some damage to the crystal, which is disappointing. The colors are not as vibrant as shown on the box; the crystals we grew were quite pale colored...not sure if it may be due to the hardness of the water or other factors. This definitely needs a lot of adult intervention, and there is quite a high level of risk that your crystal could get damaged--make sure to use a light touch to try to remove the seed rock.

Great gift for one who likes to think and figure things out.

The whole package screams quality. I am very eager to grow these with my niece and nephew. Pros: The whole package screams quality, the small touches like a "fill" line are really appreciated. The silicon growing containers allow for easy removal of the crystals, minimizing the chance that they will be damaged. The LED's in the night light is very bright, I'm very eager to see what the final results will look like with the crystals glowing on it. I didn't expect to see a glow in the dark mix, which is a very welcomed surprise. The light base is super cool; part of me wants to put the night light in my room instead of the kids' room like i originally planned. Cons: The premixed bags and limited supply of seed crystals don't lend itself to much experimentation. If any experimentation is to be done, it's best done with the 3 colors you probably don't want on the display stand. With only 4 growing chambers that will fit the display stand, it means that in order to get 5 crystals to fill the display stand you'll have to wait 7-10 days for the first batch of crystals to finish growing first then wait ANOTHER 7-10 days. This is less than ideal for kids (and adults) who tend to not be the patient type, and requires an extra amount of planning if the finished night light is supposed to be a present. Other notes: According to review photos, the glow in the dark mix is clear to white when grown, so I'm curious to see if i can mix it to create lighter variants of the other colors.

So I need to revise my review. At first I was very pleased with this “Mega crystal growing lab” until we bought another National Geographic crystal growing lab. The new kit only has 3 crystals to grow in it and a sleaker lighted base but what bothered me was the differences in the instruction book and the difference in the seed rock. In the kit that I am reviewing the instructions say after boiling a cup of water to pour a small amount of the crystal growing powder into the hot water and stir it with the starring stick until it dissolves, then pour in a little more powder and keep stirring, continue pouring and stirring until no more powder will dissolve into the solution. This process should take no more than five minutes Then it says to carefully pour the crystal growing solution into your crystal growing chamber, then let the solution cool for 15 minutes and then place in the seed rock and to leave the experiment undisturbed for 7 to 10 days while the Crystal grows. We followed these instructions to a T. Now the new set with only three crystals in it, the instructions say to pour ALL of your crystal growing powder into the growing chamber and then pour the cup of boiling water into the crystal growing chamber and to stir for two minutes until it is fully dissolved then let cool for 10 minutes And carefully place the seed rock into the solution and it says to let it sit for 3 to 4 days but for best results, let it grow for seven days. We did this two days ago. It hasn’t even been a full 48 hours and the crystals are already bigger in two days than the ones we made from this kit following this kit instructions that we let sit for a week and a half. We only made four crystals out of this set that I’m reviewing but two of those four we could not pull the seed rock away from the crystal for the light of the base to shine up through the crystal so I’m having to take a Dremel tool and try to drill it out so the light will shine through it. As I said earlier, the seed rocks from this other national geographic set were different. They were kind of smooth, so I’m thinking that they’ll pop out easier but the two that I was able to remove from this set one of them removed fine but the second one the crystal actually broke while removing it and then like I said two more I couldn’t even get to remove so I will post pictures of what I have right now and then in a few days once these other crystals are finished growing. I will update my review again to let you know if those seed rocks came out easier, and I will also share pictures of both instruction guides, but if you are going to buy this kit, I suggest going by the instructions that say to dump all of the Crystal powder in at once because doing it a little bit at a time in a little bit at a time the water cools off and you can’t dissolve as much Crystal powder so your crystals don’t grow as big. I still think it’s a great experiment to do with your kids. I just wish that the instructions were the same as in the other set so we would’ve got a better result. Also I wanted to add that it truly is just the difference in the instructions that made the difference because the red crystal and the glow in the dark crystal that we are growing now came out of the mega crystal growing lab set. Only the crystal powder for the blue crystal came from the new set. So use the instructions pictured here that say use all the crystal powder! My 5 year old son and I had so much fun making these crystals. It’s a good value and easy to use and clean up was a breeze. The hardest part was finding a place in my home to set it where it would be undisturbed while the crystal grew. But when it was finished we had big beautiful crystals! I love the lighted stand to display your crystals on but you have to be super careful removing the crystal from the silicone growing container or you will break shards off of your crystals. Totally worth the money! We still have a few more to grow. I personally can’t wait to do the glow in the dark one!

I initially bought this for my niece but it was so tempting that my niece never knew about it 😈. It's fun and end results are pretty. Boil water, pour the boiled water in a bowl (exact water level marked on each cup), add the powder and stir until all powder is treated. Pour the solution into the cup, wait for 12 minutes and then drop the seed carefully into the solution. Place the cup in a dark area and keep it steady and untouched for 7 days. My end results are in the photos. Removing the seed is not that tricky, u need a knife and u need to remove the crystals forming around the seed edges. Once those are removed, stick the knife in between the seed and the crystal and gently remove the seed, crystal will be delicate at this time. Avoid cleaning the seed or exposing it to pressurized water directly when out of the cup.

There is only 7 bags of crystal growing powder, the pink is missing There is only one growing chamber There is no power adapter There is no stir stick And the box was not in a good condition

Mi hija de 8 años quiso este pack para hacer sus cristales, la ayude con la preparación, es muy simple pero obviamente necesitan ayuda. hice como mencionaron en algún Tip que leí, luego de prepararlo lo dejamos en un lugar iluminado y lo tapamos por 24 horas, luego destapado unos días y a los 7 días lo volvimos a semi tapar con una bolsa trasparente. Posterior lo destapamos nuevamente y se evaporo mucho más el agua, donde vivo creo y por lo que lei en las instrucciones funcionó así porque hace mucho calor y humedad, mas durante el día casi siempre estaba el aire acondicionado encendido. Esperamos en total 18 días, el resultado es alucinante y para mis hijos lo máximo. Ahora que vemos funcionó haremos otro. Todo llego a tiempo y funcionando.

I bought this as a Christmas gift for my 7 years old son. It was a really cool gift. We had a lot of fun growing the christals. It takes about days to grow them. We followed the instructions and used Brita water and a glass pan to boil the water. Covering the growing chambers for the first 24 hours make a real difference in the progress. The only con is that the colors are not as bright as shown on the box. On the attached picture, the first line is Glow in the dark (looks green on the packaging, but just pure white), pink, red, green, second line is yellow, orange, purple and blue. They are still beautiful, and look really great over the lights. Please be careful when removing the seed rocks from the christals. Don't let your child try to do it, it was even challenging for me to remove it, ended up a using a knife. I can definitely recommend this product, it is great quality, interesting, fun, educational, and makes a great night lamp at the end.

Un juguete muy instructivo, ideal para niños Muy recomendable y a tiempo…

Easy to made with wonderful rocks, the kids love it!