What is the deal with your chief when they point out a rare collectible to a child? Do I need a child to be up on the path with him when he "points" it out? Does it show up on the path (I didn't see it show up there) or down below where it normally would? I looked all over the place, and saw no collectible.

There will always be a rare collectible somewhere on the map, but not usually in the direction that the chief appears to point. Once the chief has finished his magic and does the "pointing thing" just start looking everywhere.

How long is a collectible on screen? After putting my chief to work, I pick up a child and fly slowly all over the island for about 2 minutes - nothing! I look slowly, check behind people, huts and bushes for the sparkle and have only been successful one in four times. I make at least 4 full circuits of the island during this time, so if they disappear before I get there, it is because they only stayed visible for 10 seconds or less.
This was my biggest complaint with VV2. I have everything but the magenta rare stone, for the last year! I log in at least once a month and search for about an hour. I switch over to one of my daughters' tribes and have found that stone multiple times for their tribes - but NEVER for mine! I have pretty much abandoned the game I spent so much time and effort on because it is too frustrating. I'm one of those people who needs to mark "PAID" to a project and move on, but I can't do that with an incomplete collection.
I was hoping this new ability of the chief would resolve that issue, but I'm not having much luck so far.

I just completed vv2 and it is hard to get the rare stones. I just "grabbed" a child and moved the mouse as fast as possible. It seemed to work.

The collectibles will remain on the screen for about 1 minute and a half, although the rare collectible may not appear the moment that the chief completes the magic. I've seen the rare collectible appear immediately, and I've seen it take over a minute to appear. I don't give up looking until I've found it (and I've never failed to find one).

Sometimes there easy to miss because of where the pop up I almost missed a feather because it was laying on the little work table of the hospital and another time I had a feather laying on the floor of the lab really close to the bamboo wall where the villagers enter and exit. Also there have been several times that they have showed up behind the trees including the tree that drops fruit. The only reason I knew they where there was the sparkle rose above the tree never saw it till I dropped a kid on the sparkle and they came from behind with it in their hand.

Thanks! I got a good one today and have only 1 coral and 1 tablet piece left. Patience is not one of my strong points, but I'm trying.
I also found out that if your chief dies, your new chief can repeat the food enhancement, education and collectible pointing, even though your 'late' chief just did it an hour before. Always nice to know.

The best way to handle this is, as soon as the rainbow comes over your Chief's head and he/she sits down, PAUSE THE GAME!!! That way, you can CAREFULLY scour the entire village. And still have time to pick up a child to retrieve it. If I hadn't figured this little jewel out, I would've missed out on my final tortoise shell. It was half-hidden in the waterfall!

I've even found some collectibles barely visible behind the pile of wood, behind the statue, behind trees. You just need to look carefully. Sometimes, all you can see is the little sparkle that is emitted from the collectible.

Thanks! Just missed another - saw the sparkle behind the statue a moment too late!
I tried the pause, but I think I did it too soon. I'll wait for the rainbow first.
ONE CORAL LEFT.....

you are doing much better than me
i have 2 complete sets out of 20
all my collectibles from the chief lately are repeats
this is very discouraging

redrockwolf, that can cause you to miss the rare collectibles. If you pause the game right after the chief performs the magic, you might prevent the collectibles from appearing. It can take a minute or more for the rare one to appear, and if you pause the game before it appears, it won't show up at all.