National Geographic 2026 Gemstone Advent Calendar with 24 Gems for Kids

This is an excellent set for children who are interested in learning about geology. The stones feel authentic and natural, not artificial or plastic imitations. It’s a fun and engaging way to explore different types of minerals and develop curiosity about the natural world. Overall, a great educational product.

Such a great alternative to food-based advent calendars! My daughter (3) LOVES to open her gem every morning. She's been learning the names as we go, too. The accessories that come with this are also great--she regularly rotates different gems between the keychain and necklace. The bag is clutch for keeping all the gems organized, and she even loved the mini deck of cards (she made up a "game" where you roll the gems and pick cards...not sure I know the rules, but it keeps her occupied and being creative!). Highly recommend for curious and/or rock-obsessed kids.

This was great for my daughter who loves rocks and stones and she loved opening and seeing what she got and researching what she got and understanding it more and reading up on it, it became a fun education, educational activity

High quality. All different rocks, no repeats. Fun for the kids. A good alternative to candy advent calendars.

This advent calendar has been a hit so far for our almost 13 year old boy. He's looking forward to opening the jewelry piece so he can make a necklace from one of the stones. The price was great. This is gemstones. They are polished so you don't have to waste months polishing them yourself in a tumbler. Comes with a bag with a brush tool, and on the last day, you can dig out your last gemstone that's encased in kid-friendly material. You open the box like a book. It has a bit of Velcro holding the flap down. There is a list of the 24 gemstones on the left inside of the flap of the box. Then there are 24 numbered boxes on the right side. The first day you can open two (the box that says "open first" is a bag and tool for later use). As you open each day, starting at day 1, you get a gemstone and can compare it to tge list of the left side to identify it. Most are easy to identify, since they are different patterns and colors. My kid only got stuck on day 3 because there were 3 green to choose from but dad came to the rescue. To the people who complained they didn't know they had to dig out the last rock... It says so right on the back of the box, using a large picture to show you. (See my attached photos). It's part of the fun. Kids like it even if you think it's lame. There are fake kits on amazon. This is NOT a fake kit. Make sure you order from this page, where it actually sats National Geographic as the seller and ON THE BOX. If your box kit doesn't say national geographic, it's a knock off. (The square logo is not enough to proce authenticity, it beeds to have the name too) If you're looking for fossils and stuff, this is not the right kit. There is a kit for rocks and fossils specifically. This one is gemstones. It's awesome. Edit: I do wish there was an "answer" sheet included that listed all the genstones and the day they are opened. Some of them are tricky to identify until others are opened days later and ruled out through process of elimination.

We're only on day 2; my 18-year-old daughter loves this advent calendar! She has sent me a photo each day now for the first 2 days of what stone she got. Recommended for ages 6+, the important part here is the +. Don't think someone is too old for the fun of opening a door each day for a special gift. And after she can use the gems and put them in some Jewelry mounts and make a necklace. (Tip: For more jewelry parts, search for "Jewelry Findings"-Findings are what all the small parts of jewelry are called- or "Jewelry Making Kit") The kit itself is really well designed, and the presentation is very nice with a list of the gemstones inside the front cover and a description of each stone so your "child" can identify the stone and share what they learned about it with you. In the upper left corner of the calendar is an "open this first" box which has the findings, a bag for your gems and a tool for the "digging up" of the last gem. This is listed as the 2024 advent kit, but it is good for any year and any time. Its just 24 days of anticipation and fun!

This advent calendar was great at first and my 6 yr old son loved opening and identifying each gemstone for each day. However, the final day there is a dig brick where the final gemstone is and there was no gemstone in ours. My son was pretty disappointed. UPDATE: I contacted the number on the box and their customer service was amazing. Not only did they send a rose quartz gem that we were missing, they sent a mini dig kit so my son could experience the joy of digging out the specimen. Fantastic company and I’ve changed my review from 2 to 5 stars. Highly recommended

We got this in 2025 and it was a huge hit. My daughter looooved it. She kept all of the stones. Would definitely buy again if not a complete repeat of last years!!

My 10 year old son really enjoyed this advent calendar. I thought it was a nice alternative to candy/chocolate. He looked forward to opening it every morning morning. There is a full list of the Gems inside the flap, and although it appears to line by numbers (25 rocks) there were a couple duplicates and some that did not show up at all. Overall I think the value was there and we enjoyed the learning and aesthetic of the gems as they are now proudly on display.

Brilliant advent calendar. Unique, fun, and good size crystals each day. Contains a wide variety with no repeats. The extra accessories it comes with (e.g., the bag, necklace etc) are good quality and fun. Great for kids and adults. Extra info on each crystal daily would be interesting; possibly a QR code to a page with more detail. Would recommend for definite as it was great value.

My son loved this, the stones are great and very cool that it provides information about each one. This is the only reason it’s not 5 stars. I would advise to pull each stone out yourself and give it to them, because the box contains the photos and descriptions of each stone very clearly, so it takes the surprise away to know what they will be getting. It would have been better to have a small booklet or something to give them at the end so that it preserves the surprise and then they also have it to reference and learn from later (because the box will be thrown away).

Not easy to recognize all the stones when comparing to the chart

I purchased twice these...my son is very happy having them you got all what you sees on the top of calendar.