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Tuesday 1 October 2019

National Geographic STEM Dig Kits & Ultimate Play Sand Kit **REVIEW**

**AD - Review**

Over the last 6 months or so you may have noticed us sharing lots of fun, educational and interesting kits and toys from the National Geographic S.T.E.M range. That's because we were lucky enough to be chosen as Bandai S.T.E.M ambassadors and we have loved trying out all the products and sharing them with you. Some of our favourites include the mini dig kits, erupting volcanos and even breaking open our own geodes!

Unfortunately this is our last post as S.T.E.M ambassadors but we still have some amazing kits to share with you yet, including one of our favourites!


Out of all the kits we have received over the last few months, the Ultimate play sand has probably been Evelyn's favourite. Mostly because I think she has been a little young for the other kits but also because, well kinetic sand is pretty mesmerizing isn't it!?

The National Geographic Ultimate Play Sand kit comes with 2lbs of green kinetic sand as well as 6 miniate sand castle style moulds, all of which represent an ancient building or monument. The set also comes with a small black tray (a similar size to the box) that you can use to play with your sand in. Unfortunately ours somehow got cracked so we just used a cheap lap tray instead.


The sand itself is so mesmerising and the kits comes with more than enough sand to build and play with. As it is kinetic sand it never tries out, doesn't leave any dust or sticky residue and feels like it almost "melts" when you pick it up.


It made making the "sandcastles" and building things from it really easy and the sand never got stuck in the moulds, not even once. Whilst the sand won't dry out if it is being played with lots it can become drier, this can be rectified by adding a drop or two of water into the sand and mixing. Be carefully not to add to much though as this can affect the sand and make the ink transfer during play.

Evelyn spent ages building, scooping, crushing, squishing and making shapes, letters and numbers in the sand and has played with it most days since then too! Its safe to say this is one of her new favourites and its such a lovely kit I can totally see why!


In this months delivery we also received two dig kits, the National Geographic Gemstone dig kit and the National Geographic Shark tooth dig kit. Each kit contains 3 genuine specimens of either gemstones or shark teeth.

The dig kits are lots of fun and it took the kids a good whilst to break through and carefully excavate their treasure inside. The kit comes with everything you need for the big dig including  the plaster shape containing the specimens, a digging tool, a small brush and a magnifying glass to inspect your findings!


It took James about 30-45 minutes to fully excavate each one and inside he found 3 specimens in each which we thought was a fantastic amount! It was lovely watching him scrape then carefully brush around each specimen when he came across it. We were left with some really lovely specimen's of both gemstones and shark teeth which he is desperate to take into school to show his friends.

Our gemstone specimens -


Our shark teeth -


We have had such great fun being ambassadors and have loved every kit we have tried so far. The kids have had great fun and we will definitely be adding some more to our collection over Christmas.

You can find out all about the full National Geographic STEM range via the Bandai website.

Which of these kits do you think your kids would like the most?

xXx


**We received these kits for the purpose of this review. However all word, opinions and images are my own. I retain full control of this post.**

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