Looking for something fun and educational for your kids to dig into? Gemstone Mining gets kids excited about the natural world! They’ll get a bag of dirt and a sieve so they can pan for gold, shiny baubles, and colorful gemstones. Once they’re done collecting their treasures, they can identify their gemstones using our Gemstone Pamphlet.
Fun Facts about Mining
Gold is easy to mine because it’s heavier than river sand. It sinks to the bottom, making it easy to fish out of the stream. - The deepest mine in the world is the TauTona gold mine in South Africa. It’s 2.4 miles deep!
- Did you know that “The Luck of the Irish” is a mining expression? It comes from the gold and silver rush at the end of the 19th century (we’re guessing the Irish took home some pots of gold).
- Most modern technology contains precious minerals. Parts of your smartphone are made from gold, copper, palladium, and platinum.
- Long before Columbus landed, indigenous Native Americans mined turquoise, opal, jet, obsidian, copper, silver, among other gemstones and minerals.
- Aluminum was considered a rare metal until 1886, when researchers discovered how to make it.
- “Birthstones” are gemstones associated with a specific month of the year. What’s your birthstone?
- Cleopatra’s favorite gemstone was peridot, which the Egyptians called “the gem of the sun”.
- Gemstones are usually known by their most common color, but most gems come in a variety of hues (for example, the rarest color for diamonds is red).
- Diamond is the hardest naturally-occurring substance on earth.
- Amber is the softest gemstone.
- Pure gold is so soft you can mold it like playdough with your bare hands!
Dig into Gemstone Mining at Charleston Fun Park! We have fun gemstone mining activities for schools, families and other curious kids.
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