A Gem Mining Birthday Party
When my soon to be 5 year old asked for a gem birthday party, I wasn’t exactly sure how we were going to pull it off. So we brainstormed lots of ideas, but finally settled on setting up gem mining as the main party activity. I didn’t have the time or money to set up a mining sluice in our backyard, but we still came up with something that was be easy and affordable. We were able to use items we had available around our house, but even if we hadn’t, it still would have been under $100 to compile all the supplies. It ended up being so much fun and the girls who came loved the activity so much that I wanted to record and share how we did it in case I or anyone else wants to replicate it later. This could also easily be adapted for a classroom activity as well.
Our Gem Party
Materials:
A Bin to hold the gems in the sand
We used a 40 Qt Sterilite bin like this (~$10)
Several Bins to hold water for sifting the gems in (~$8 each)
I actually used two wide shallow bins that we had around the house storing other things so we didn’t have to purchase new ones. Two kids could sift in these bins at the same time.
Colanders from the dollar store ($4)
Summer beach sand sifters would work too. You want to confirm that the stones will not go through the holes.
50 lbs of Sandbox sand (~$5)
This is a specific type of sand that is inexpensive from a home improvement store. Be careful which sand you get. Some types of sand contain silica and are not safe for children to play with. (I messed up and purchased the wrong one first)
Gems - polished or raw
We ordered both polished and used about 3 lbs of raw ones that a friend had available (~$50)
Drawstring bags to hold the gems that the children find. We used these here. (~$7)
Towels
A Scoop - A trowel or large spoon
Preparation:
Prepare the Gem sand:
Pour about 1/2 of the sand into the large bin
Add water to the sand so it is a good sand castle consistency, not dripping wet, just damp.
Mix in about half of the gems/stones
Repeat with the second half of the materials: sand, water, gems.
Place at a starting station
Prepare the sifting stations:
Fill the shallow bins with water
Prepare a collection station:
Set up a small table covered with a towel(s) where the kids can take the gems out of their sifters once the are done with the mining.
Write the children’s name on their collection bag and place them at the collection station.
Activity Instructions:
Hand the kids each a sifter and place two good scoops of the gem sand mixture inside.
Take the sifter to the bin, lower the sifter into the water, but don’t let the edges submerge so the sand and gems don’t dump out or wash away.
Move the sifter back and forth or up and down to wash the sand away and reveal the stones.
Take the sifter with the stones to the collection station. There the children can collect the stones out of their sifter, dry them on the towel, and place them in their bag.
We repeated this cycle 5 times for 8 kids.
Alternate ways you could set this up would be to purchase individual pails or set up individual zip top bags for each kid. Then, you could evenly allocate out the gems into sand in the buckets or bags for each kid. We also chose to take turns with 4 sifters which made the activity last a little longer, but you could increase the number of sifting stations and sifters.
We did the mining outside so we didn’t have to worry about spilling or dripping the water. However, if you were carful and placed the bins on a tarp, vinyl table cloth, towels or other protective gear this could be adapted as an indoor event.
We also set up a water play station for some of the little siblings that came to the party and added some rubber balls, scoops, and some of the larger stones (that were less of a choking hazard) for them to play with.
When we first tried this activity out with my daughter before the party, she said, “ My friend’s minds are going to be like “WHOA!” And she was not wrong. The kids loved coming up to me and showing me what kind of stones they found. I was so glad that we were able to set up a gem mining experience at home for under $100 and I hope some of this information helps you have an amazing experience with your kids.
