I am in need of just a few of the rare items / collectibles and so I too decided to start another village as I wait. The frustrating thing is the one last rare shell I need for the first village just appeared in my second~

I was only missing the purple beetle... after 4 or 5 days of neglecting the game I came back to it to finally go and check to see if I can get that last one... took a few hours but I saw the last one! The sad part was that I didn't pay attention to the game that I didn't have any kids to pick it up!!! Oh the agony! ...

Regarding collectibles - I learned the 4-kid thing from this forum. But did anyone else mention how you can get multiple copies with less than 4 kids for new items?

Probably they did and I just missed it.

4 kid?? what is this

can't happen

the two eldest won't be able to pick it up, so with fewer than 4 children, you will not be able to pick up multiple items

You can with new items. Even with only 3 kids I could get 3 copies of the rare red star and the rare green shell and 3 copies of two of the uncommon butterflies. And presumably with other items (though I've only been able to manage it with uncommon and rare items, not common, which is weird to me) But only when it's a "new" item.

Very handy and the beginning of the game.


Edited to add: Also works with 2 kids.

How do you get beetles? I have the exploration technology, but nothing is showing up

You have to clear the brambles and vines above the research table to get beetles - you need exploration to get the tools you need to clear the brambles.

There is an oddity with my collectibles right now. My first village I am still in need of a total of 3 collectibles; two bugs and one pebble. All of the puzzles have been completed, every tech has been researched, so it's just a matter of waiting. But the weird thing is I recently started another village and some of the missing items from the first village are appearing in the second. Some could say it's a coincidence, except I have yet to complete the puzzles and each technology is only at a level 2. But the most frustrating is when the collectible appears and you bring over many children and still it doesn't register as seen, and then disappears.

One day I might get a set of collectibles... one day! Best I've managed so far is 10/12.