Ways to use this list
- Loot for fantasy adventure games: when the heroes open a treasure chest, spin for the gem and roll a dice to see how many are inside.
- Rocks and minerals topic: each pupil spins a gem, finds out which country it is mined in and pins it on a world map. Tanzanite is an easy start.
- Art lesson: spin, then draw the stone as a cut gem with flat faces, using a light and a dark shade of the colour shown in the list to make it sparkle.
- Table or team names: give each group a gem, like Team Sapphire or Team Opal. Turn on "Remove the winner" so no two tables end up with the same one.
- Party treasure hunt: hide paper gems around the house, and each spin tells the hunters which gem hides the next clue.
Press Spin the wheel, tap the game or press the Space bar. Change the list in the box as you
like: add your own, delete what doesn't suit you, or write *2 after an entry to give it double the
chance. The game buttons switch the same list to a duck race, hat, claw machine and more.
The full list (36 entries)
- Diamond – colourless and the hardest natural mineral
- Ruby – red
- Sapphire – usually blue
- Emerald – green
- Amethyst – purple
- Topaz – often golden or blue
- Opal – flashes of rainbow colours
- Pearl – grows inside oysters and mussels
- Garnet – usually deep red
- Aquamarine – pale sea blue
- Peridot – olive green
- Citrine – yellow to orange
- Turquoise – sky blue to green
- Jade – mostly green, also white or lavender
- Onyx – black or banded
- Moonstone – milky with a blue glow
- Tanzanite – violet-blue, found only in Tanzania
- Tourmaline – every colour, sometimes two in one stone
- Lapis lazuli – deep blue with gold-coloured flecks
- Amber – golden fossilised tree resin
- Jasper – earthy reds and browns
- Agate – stripes of coloured bands
- Malachite – green swirls
- Alexandrite – green in daylight, reddish in lamplight
- Spinel – often red, once mistaken for ruby
- Zircon – very sparkly, often blue
- Rose quartz – soft pink
- Tiger's eye – shimmering golden-brown bands
- Carnelian – orange-red
- Labradorite – flashes of blue and green
- Sunstone – orange with glittery sparkle
- Morganite – peach-pink
- Kunzite – pink to lilac
- Iolite – violet-blue
- Obsidian – black volcanic glass
- Hematite – shiny metallic grey
Questions people ask
Which gemstone is the hardest?
Diamond, with 10 on the Mohs hardness scale. Ruby and sapphire come next at 9, topaz is 8, and quartz gems such as amethyst, citrine and rose quartz are 7. Opal and pearl are much softer and scratch easily.
Are ruby and sapphire really the same stone?
Yes. Both are the mineral corundum. Red corundum is called ruby, and every other colour, including blue, pink and yellow, is called sapphire. A tiny amount of chromium is what turns corundum red.
What is the birthstone for each month?
The usual modern list is: January garnet, February amethyst, March aquamarine, April diamond, May emerald, June pearl, July ruby, August peridot, September sapphire, October opal, November topaz and December turquoise. Press Birthstones to spin just those twelve.
Is a pearl a gemstone if it comes from an animal?
Pearl is called an organic gem because a living thing makes it: an oyster or mussel coats a tiny irritant in layer after layer of shiny nacre. Amber is organic too, as it is tree resin that hardened over millions of years.