Natural stones are a very nice tool for activities with children. The best thing is that they are 100% natural elements and with a special energy vibration.
Many activities can arise depending on the quantity, colors, and other elements that you have to combine, the only thing to keep in mind is what stones to offer them to play with. The intuition of the little ones does not fail, and they even choose their favorite minerals depending on the energy they are needing. They love to experiment with them, feel them by touch, group them, stack them or line them up.
Children have a vibration that is not very rooted to the earth, and there are crystals that could alter them. It is always recommended that they touch brown stones like amber, because it helps them to take root, it completes that energy from the earth that they do not yet have. Quartz that have a more subtle vibration are also very good, such as amethyst, aquamarine, amazonite, lapis lazuli, jade.
Another very important issue is to clean them well before giving them to children. They feel a lot the energy that the stone can bring with them, therefore you have to carry out the same process as with the jewels: wash them with running water, and then put them in the sun for a few hours or under the full moon. For more details and cleaning options you can see the post on How to clean the stones.
A good idea is to assemble your own box of stones, which are not mixed with other elements, and which are not handled by many people, to maintain their energy charge as much as possible. There is no problem with mothers and fathers being able to touch them because they generally share the same energies and those of the home, but let's not forget that outsiders can carry their own vibrations and could mobilize the child.
We always say that the use of minerals must be done responsibly, whether in the form of jewels or rocks, knowing that they have a load that can mobilize more than we imagine.
So, once we know how to present the material to the little ones, we can start thinking about the activity, here are some proposals:
towers and ranks
If we offer the stones to the child, and let him experiment freely, surely this is the first activity he will do. Depending on the format of the mineral, you can stack them, and if not, you will order them in a row, perhaps classifying by color, or by size. The experience will also be very enriching in relation to the senses, touch, sight, you will drop them, and you will feel an affinity for some, you will be able to save and remove them from your box a thousand times.
Light table
The crystals are composed of different minerals that give them colored veins, areas with more transparency and others that are more opaque, forming very cool lines and shapes to observe against the light. They can be used as one more element on the nightstand or simply in a window or a lamp!
color classification
The chromatic range of the stones makes them a perfect and natural element for classification games. The same variety of quartz can have different shades depending on the piece, or you can even mix variants within the same range. For example, aquamarine, amazonite, jade, are three stones that pass between green and light blue. Containers with the base colors can be offered to the child so that he can place the stones according to their color. They can be containers, or cards, or felt cloths. Here you have to use your imagination!