Gems for kids?

[rubybeth]

I have a 8 year old little cousin who is fascinated with gems and precious metals. Apparently, he asks his mother several times a day if this or that rock/bolt/sequin is a real piece of gold/silver/ruby. His favorite subject is science, so she may have a budding geologist or gemologist on her hands. I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for gems/rough that would be inexpensive enough to get him a few samples (big inclusions might be interesting). I'm not concerned about quality of cutting or anything, but it would be cool to get him a few different things to look at under a magnifying glass or microscope (he's homeschooled).

 

[chrono]

Actually, I'm thinking mineral "samples" might be far more interesting, especially the included ones where one is able to see fractures, growth lines and etc. Pieces of quartz or beryl as such are relatively inexpensive. I wonder if the eBay 99 cent gemstone sales are just the perfect items for such studies...

 

[distracts]

I think it would be easy to pick up some things on ebay or find a jewelry or beading supply store and pick up some things there (they usually have inexpensive cabochons and some faceted stones in addition to beads). As a kid, I found stones like jasper, lapis lazuli, and turquoise endlessly interesting. In gemstones, topaz and quartz are probably cheapest, though things like garnet and peridot can also be pretty inexpensive. It might even be neat to get him a synthetic sapphire or ruby and explain to him that it's made by people in labs, and how that's different from being formed by nature. Another thing is that for semiprecious stones, you can often find little carvings of animals. My brother has a massive collection of turtles and frogs (which he has been collecting since he was small), some of which are carved from jade, quartz, amethyst, black spinel, agate, etc. They're extra fun because they're also toys. heee!

eta: Also, you can find specimens where a stone has formed inside fossilized dinosaur bone. I can see this being really rad to an 8-year-old. Not gonna lie, I find it really rad and have a ring of fossilized dinosaur bone and jasper. Here is an example from ACStones.

 

[Pandora II]

My 2 year-old daughter is fascinated by gemstones - so far I've given her a loupe (which she knows how to use) and a variety of minerals: rock crystal, tigers eye, pyrites, quartz crystals etc

I've also taken her down 3 mines and to one of those tourist things where you sift through sand for gemstones - she loved it!

eBay is a great source for cheapy faceted stones - you can buy them by the bag as well as individually!

 

[gongli]

you can get a collection of inexpensive stones from from multicolour.. there's a few colors etc, even a sapphire is about $18-20

http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?/details/single/sapphire/ysa142bs/&302686978

heated and small, but still nice to have a few.

 

[gsellis]

You might want to consider buying an Estwing geology pick/hammer. I still have ours that my dad got when I was about that age.

Ebay is not a bad place to start. Just search for "mineral collection" and you will be overwhelmed. Tagged and mounted at a low price.

And if you want to do a Christmas or Birthday present there are a couple of stellar specimen dealers. One of the best ones is a little embarrassing to link to as she uses her 'assets' along the old marketing bit that sex sells. But the stuff is world class. Look for teresa_rocks. Her daughter also sells and has access to the same class of material. And is a link you can give to an 8 year old without having to explain yourself, toris-treasures. When Laurie has stuff, he has really good stuff at lauriesrocks. He has an appointment only rock shop in NC that is awesome from what I have been told.

Also, Jason B should bop along soon and he can give you links to Rodney Moore.

 

[Barrett]

Alas, Jason B is here...
Some good suggestions by George Ellis
Whats really neat for kids are these little cloth bags they sell for $1 and $2 at the Cobb county show here in Georgia...they have all kinds of cool little colorlful things..calcite, quartz, peacock ore, fossil sharks teeth, etc.
Quartz is always a good bet..cheap and usually colorful or gemmy