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Oyster is a STEM subscription box for children 5 to 8. Each box is filled with activities to help children learn about different professions. Some professions may include Doctor, Game Designer, Geologist, Chef, Animator, Artist, Meteorologist, Interior Designer, Archaeologist & Paleontologist, Detective, and more.
Boxes are $38.95/month to month and contain 3 to 5 STEM activities that let children engage in professions through role play. The name of the subscription comes from the phrase “The world is your oyster.” Oyster kits open the world to children and expose them to new ways to learn. You can pause your subscription at any time.
You can get up to four months free with the code BLACK.
Everything ships in an orange box.
First Look. The profession for this month is “Geologist.”
Each box contains a colorful guide with all the STEM activities for the month.
The Four Layers
The Four Layers experiment introduces children to the layers of the Earth. The project comes with a bag and foam pieces. Half of the bag shows the Earth, and the other half shows the layers of the Earth.
My son has studied the layers of the Earth in Science, and he enjoyed telling me about what he knew about each layer.
Volcano
This is one of the messier projects in the box. The picture of the volcano is actually made up of different stickers. You peel off a section and use that colored sand to fill it in. I like that this project didn't involve any glue.
My son cut the corner of the bag and gently shook the bag of sand over the picture. Then he picked up the picture and shook it gently from side to side to cover all the areas. The box didn't keep all the sand in it, but it wasn't a vacuum that couldn't solve.
This is my son's finished project.
Semi-Precious Stones
My oldest son has never loved digging for rocks, but my youngest has never done it. The dig brick is filled with stones your child can dig out. The kit included a hammer, chisel, and brush.
Thie project took the longest amount of time. The hammer really doesn't do much, but the chisel worked great at chipping away the brick.
My son was excited to see the stones start to appear.
There was a pumice stone in the box. My son experimented to see if the pumice stone or the blue agate stone would float.
The box makes a little tray to hold the stones. My son stuck the stickers in the bottom and matched up all the rocks. We also explored more about what each of the stones was.
Mineral Resources
The kit included everything to make a “Million Year Mineral Mountain.” Each layer of the project represents a different mineral in the Earth.
The layers are as follows:
- Shells – remains different anvient organisms.
- Brown yarn – coal (Our box didn't include the brown yarn, so we skipped it)
- Beige yard – sandstone
- Red-brown yarn – cobalt
- Yellow yarn – iron ore
- Cotton – limestone
A Key Chain
The keychain can hold any stones in the box, so your child can switch them out as they wish. After your child finishes everything in the box, there are two QR codes in the back of the book. The first one connects to more projects your child can do, and the second QR code takes you to a Geologist quiz to test your child's knowledge.
Final Thought: This was an exciting box for my son. Oyster box kept my son interested and engaged in the box through all the activities. His favorite activity was the rock dig, but he enjoyed the entire box. I like that more online activities keep the learning and fun going. If you want to subscribe, use the code BLACK for up to four months FREE.