Mineral Discovery

For thousands of years, people have treasured colorful rocks, beautiful crystals, and valuable jewels. Using the ten mineral specimens and other materials in this kit, you can conduct experiments to learn how Earth creates these natural treasures. Learn how to identify and distinguish mineral specimens by testing their properties such as density, streak color, hardness, and translucency. Find out how and where crystals and minerals are formed. Cast crystal shapes out of plaster to explore the tiny building blocks of minerals. Attach your specimens to the colorful mineral poster using plastic boxes to create an attractive educational display. You can use this kit as a starter set for a new rock collection or as an educational companion to an existing rock collection. Learn where and when to search for your own minerals in nature to grow your collection. Specimens include amethyst, rose quartz, flint, quartz, amazonite, apatite, mookaite, labradorite, pyrite, and a desert rose.