7 year old son fascinated

[ajmets]

Hi there. I posted this in the general forum but someone suggested I try here. My son is a budding rock hound (just like his mommy was and I find myself getting all excited again) so someone suggested I get him an Estwing hammer for Christmas so he can break open rocks and find geodes and such. My question is this...I live in North Central Connecticut. Stafford to be exact. I have mountains, lakes, creeks and rivers by me but I honestly have no idea if there is anything for him to even use this hammer on other than breaking up my driveway. lol. Can you guys help me and let me know if it would be a useful tool in this area? Do geodes even exist here? If not is there something else he would use that for?

 

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[Bajahunter]

Welcome to the forum
A good hammer is a nice start. However more rockhounds are saying don't bang on every rock you pass. Use the hammer responsibly.
Other good rockhound gifts that would be good:
A field guide, I like the Audobon Society one.
A good 10 x triplet. This is a small high quality 3 element magnifying lens.
A hardness test kit. I know you can use normal objects for this but a complete set of rocks is handy and leaves no gap in the hardness scale.
A small backpack that includes a notebook and pencil for keeping track of his discoveries, a ceramic tile to test streak color, and padded evelopes for storing them.
And last. Does your state have a gem or mineral society? A membership in some of these groups includes regular meetings and newsletters to help expand his horizon.

 

[mattyshore]

I too am just getting into rock hounding. I live in Delaware where there is not a whole lot, but my parents still live on Long Island where I am from. Yesterday I looked up a site in CT in Trumbull (not too sure how far that is from you) The place is called "Old Mine Park" and it is behind a Home Depot. When they were breaking ground they found a whole bunch of gems. It seems to be a pretty popular spot although I have never been there. I was thinking about driving up there this spring to get my hands dirty before my trip out to Franklin NC. Here is a link I found about the Trumbull site. Hope it helps and if you go there and find anything please post would love to see if you find some goods

Mineral Collecting Site: Topaz and Emerald Site, Trumbull, Connecticut

 

[hvacker]

To be honest, a rock hammer is too heavy for a 7 year old and too dangerous. Chips can hit the eye. Who knows, he might bust up something valuable. At 7 just having a rock collection will bring a lot of satisfaction. If interest persists a collection of rock samples is fun. Later when understands more, a hardness test kit etc.
For a kid, and most of us, just finding something is enough.

 

[TeAra]

My 9 year old son has his own rock hammer. He does great handling it. I just explained to him the importance of being careful with it. I searched your area and did find this.
Diamond Ledge (Stafford Springs quartz locality), Stafford, Tolland Co., Connecticut, USA
You will read that they are in rocks that may need busting. I would make sure to get permission.