National Geographic Crystal Garden RT Box Science Kit

I was really disappointed in this one. If it didn't say "crystal" maybe it'd be okay. But there is nothing crystal about this. You start with paper trees that your child colors, and then cover them in some substance that becomes fluffy and blooms like the picture basically, absorbing whatever was colored on. However, you cannot move it at all once you do it. They fall apart with any movement and there's no longevity to this project. I expect to be able to keep it for sometime if it was crystal. I expected a rock candy type experiment, not this. If you go in knowing this will be something to throw away shortly after making, you might not be disappointed.

When my 5 year old boy saw this box, he was so excited for the “science experiment.” He enjoyed coloring the trees and shaping the branches… but did not like the wait. Or the final result. He thought it was “cool” but kept asking why the crystals weren’t hard like the crystal included in the box. Overall he enjoyed doing it though!

This pink and green crystal garden has been a lot of fun. Everything you need is included in the box with easy to follow direction. We have done kits like this in the past and have messed up. I’ve been very pleased my kiddo was able to use this easily!

While this is an extremely fun and interesting kit for both children as well as adults who are crystal and science fans, I'm a little concerned by the warnings on both the front of the package as well as the instructions that warn about it being harmful as well as instructing not to place the garden inside of a bedroom. I would rate it higher if the kit was safer and non toxic but I worry about keeping it around children and pets.

This was a fun experiment to do with my kiddos ages 4, 9, and 11. My 11 year old guided the other two. They enjoyed the coloring and setup, we didn’t have a dropper so initially poked a couple holes in the liquid bottle to sprinkle over the trees. Within 30 mins just as the guide said we started to see “crystals”. Its very pretty with the colored parts of the tree and the liquid blending to create colorful “crystals”. My 9 year old had dibs on the geode. The only downside is that it won’t last long and fragile fluff. But, still great for a rainy day experience.

My kids loved this. They are 6 & 8 and love science and crafts so this was a combo they needed. They loved making them and watching them grow. They are sure to show anyone thay comes by to visit that they grew their own little gardens

While we love the NG science kits and have used plenty of them in the past, this kit was disappointing. The crystal grow quickly, however they are very soft and fragile. They don’t hold for long and kids can easily destroy it in minutes. It’s understandable that crystal that take weeks to grow are stronger, this set is too fragile to handle. We expect better from NG.

This is a fun, easy activity! My 7 and 10 year old opened the activity and completed the whole thing in their own. Instructions were simple to follow and it actually works! After about 8 hours the entire tree had grown colored crystals. So cool!!

The National Geographic Crystal Garden Kit is such a fun way to explore science at home! You get to "grow" colorful crystals on little paper trees, and the transformation happens in just a few hours, which keeps kids excited and engaged. It's easy to set up, and watching the crystals form feels almost magical. Perfect for curious kids (and adults too!) who love hands-on activities. Plus, it’s a great opportunity to learn about science while creating something beautiful together.

This crystal garden Nation geographic Stem kit is very cool and we are going to give it to our 2 kids, 11 and 5 year old but of course with adult supervision. We have a few other kits like this that is very educational and yet fun.

If you're thinking of crystals like shiny and hard rock like substance you'll be sorely disappointed. In fact the only thing which forms is foam like which disintegrates at the pressure of a light touch. Kids will be sorely disappointed.

I don’t know if it’s just me but this didn’t work at all…

A lot smaller than I was expecting.

My 6 year old loves these kits. I like to give these as gifts too. They are so fun, educational, and get more use than toys.

It’s more of a soft foam like substance as opposed to crystals. They fell off easily and didn’t pick up at much color as we hoped. Should have came with the dropper to apply liquid to trees but I’m not convinced that was the issue.

Not crystals- it’s just a powdery foam that turns to dust and falls off when you touch it. Never actually crystallized hard. Takes forever to color for a disappointing result.

It grows but it’s not crystals. Very powdery substance that falls off of them. Kids will not be able to keep it. You are supposed to throw away the next day.

That’s not like crystal at all, just powder. And it kept dropping, wasted money 😟

It’s not working I wait for it 6 hour and more it’s not good

I’ve never seen my 6 year old more disappointed and upset about a project in my life. She had a science fair project at camp. We did this the day before since instructions say it takes 6-8 hours for crystals to form. They formed only on the edges of the branches on only one tree, the other did not form at all. What did form ended up crumbing off during the car ride. When she got to school the office called me that she was inconsolable because the tree was almost bare. Also, these do not look like crystals, it’s more like dry foam with no sparkle.