This is the tumbler kit we bought from Scotia Lapidary Supply at the Rocks and Gems show. The Lego Mixels are not included. 😉

First step for us was to take each bag of rocks that came with this kit and give them a quick inspection while dry, for curiosity’s sake. Each of the boys will have their own bag of rocks and having a double tumbler means they can keep their rocks separate.

Then the boys sprayed their rocks to see how they would look when polished. Oooooh. Aaaaaaw. Very exciting!

Close up of Xman’s rocks. I see some tiger’s eye, rose quartz and either sodalite or lapis – he told me but I forget which this blue one is.

L’s dry rocks.Jasper, sodalite, tiger’s eye and more!

Rocks go into the rubber tumbler.

The next step is to add some grit. This first tumbling step will round out the sharp edges.

Next the boys added water to almost cover the topmost rocks.

There are a couple of steps for adding the lids to ensure a tight seal.

Don’t over tighten or the lid may warp!

And a’tumbling they will go! This first step can take about a week for rocks that are 5.5or higher such as these. We will open the containers tomorrow to let some gases escape as per directions. Then we let them tumble for about a week before moving to step two! Can’t wait!

In my search about rocks I came across a super fun kids rocks site! Haven’t shown this to Xman yet but I think we will add it to our studies for the year. It has information about rocks and minerals with projects to go along – plus you can collect rock patches – like that’s not super cool!

Thanks again to Scotian Lapidary Supply for their tips on Facebook as we begin our first rock tumble!