Our Archaeological lesson with Mine It

We have had a very interesting past few week learning at home in our home educating journey.
Over the past month we have learned about Dinosaurs , the Anglo Saxons and the Vikings  and on many occasions the conversations came up regarding queries as to how we knew what happened all those many years ago .

Talking about Fossils and Archaeological diggers who found remains of past times and events during our talks we thought it would be a fantastic opportunity to bring in the Mine It  Diamond and Gold Bar to show them just how fun and how interesting it can be.

Mine It from Character Options are fantastic pocket money toys that cost just £4.99 each and are recommended for ages 4 and over.

Although the age recommendation is 4 years and above my nearly 2 year old was very well supervised while having a go himself and absolutely loved his experience.

We have found that he loves to dig and loves to look at things carefully and lately he has become very open to his senses of putting his senses t good use. 
We allowed him to use the tools included with each kit consisting of a shovel, a hammer a paintbrush and a magnifying glass and as you can see he especially loved the hammer and looking glass.
It did not take him long to understand that looking through the glass made things look bigger for him to enable seeing what was hidden inside the Gold bar.

Because we used both the Diamond and the Gold bar inside (although these can be placed in some interesting areas outside for them to find and use) , I recommend placing a cloth, tray or paper down on the surface beforehand as it does end up becoming rather messy and also may scratch the surface that it is placed on being the material that is used.

I added a few sensory extras to our play by adding sequin stars and glitter (these are not included) but it does not take long for the sand to start piling on the table or floor and soon actually feels like a real digging site with it ending up everywhere . It is easily hoovered and wiped though so nothing t worry about , it really is great fun. 

While my younger son had the Gold Bar , my elder Daughter had the Diamond to dig into . 
We did find out that you had the option of digging  (which takes longer and gives the full experience in my opinion) or you can actually use them in water making it fall apart a little quicker . Have you ever seen the old movies where you see them sat by the side of a muddy pond sifting the gold in a sieve ? well this can also be done but we took the digging option as this is what my children were interested about , plus I wanted it to last longer than a minute which surprisingly it did.

We bought a few similar digging products not long ago and although a little cheaper in price they seemed to be done with too quickly and they got bored easier .

It took Joshua a full 15 minutes before he got to the surprise that was hidden in his Gold bar and Drew only 5 minutes less so it was a good lesson that required a lot of concentration with hand and eye co ordinations skills.

In each product you are promised one very special piece of rock and there are 6 precious stones to collect -

• Black Line Jasper,
• Rose Crystal,
• Picture Jasper,
• Red Onyx,
• Tiger Eye  
• Volcanic Rock

​
Not only that ,If you are really lucky , you may even find real gold or a real diamond inside your block and there is a 1 in 24 chance .

The race really is on to find that real precious surprise.

Each pack includes either a 1 x Diamond or Gold Bar, 1 x Chisel, 1 x Magnifying glass and 1 x Hammer. You can hammer, chisel and brush away to find them all.

Take a look at the short clip below to see how much fun our little Joshua had digging away with his Gold Block.

​All Mine It Gold and Diamond Bars are available from all leading retailers .

*We were not paid for this review , all opinions are honest and based on our own experiences and thoughts.