Microscope for young child
May 17, 2019 12:06 PM Subscribe
My soon-to-be-five-year-old has declared that what she really wants for her birthday is a microscope. "Not a toy microscope that's just for pretending to be a scientist, but a real microscope that will make things look bigger. But not so hard to use that I can't do it by myself." Among other things, she wants to use it to look at rocks and shells, but insists that she wants a microscope and not a magnifying glass.
Something like this would be perfect, especially since I don't think she's great at using one eye. Except the reviews say that it barely magnifies.
Anyone have a great suggestion for a kid this age? I want something she can use now, by herself, not something to grow into. I'd also take suggestions for great magnifying glasses, magnifying boxes, or other devices that will perform the basic function of making things look bigger. But if its form resembles a microscope, that would be wonderful.
Something like this would be perfect, especially since I don't think she's great at using one eye. Except the reviews say that it barely magnifies.
Anyone have a great suggestion for a kid this age? I want something she can use now, by herself, not something to grow into. I'd also take suggestions for great magnifying glasses, magnifying boxes, or other devices that will perform the basic function of making things look bigger. But if its form resembles a microscope, that would be wonderful.
Seconding USB microscope. My electronics lab tech recently switched to one and it's really useful and a lot of fun. The one rdn found is so cheap (like only $20 more than the one you chose) and is seriously powerful. Only downside is you need a PC to operate it, but you can also do fun things like take digital snapshots for later use.
posted by JoeZydeco at 12:15 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by JoeZydeco at 12:15 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
Looks like this digital one can connect to a cell phone, or kid's tablet.
posted by Sophont at 12:22 PM on May 17, 2019
posted by Sophont at 12:22 PM on May 17, 2019
Also, while this advice may not extend down to five year olds, you'll see people recommend against binocular microscopes for kids.
posted by caek at 12:23 PM on May 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by caek at 12:23 PM on May 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
You could go with a usb microscope (you will need an old phone or laptop to go with it), it's nice since you can take pics and two people can look at once. You can tell her that these are what a lot of scientists are now using.
The problem with a lot of normal microscopes is that they only do backlit, thin samples and won't work on the surface of large objects.
posted by 445supermag at 12:28 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
The problem with a lot of normal microscopes is that they only do backlit, thin samples and won't work on the surface of large objects.
posted by 445supermag at 12:28 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
I almost hate to make this recommendation because they cost >$200 new, but a Brock Magiscope sounds like it would be perfect.
They're nigh-indestructible--intended for use in grade school classrooms, in fact--with no plastic, no knobs or gears, and no glass other than the lenses. They're simple to use, operate entirely by collecting ambient light (they actually work best outside), and are surprisingly useful and usable.
posted by pullayup at 12:37 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
They're nigh-indestructible--intended for use in grade school classrooms, in fact--with no plastic, no knobs or gears, and no glass other than the lenses. They're simple to use, operate entirely by collecting ambient light (they actually work best outside), and are surprisingly useful and usable.
posted by pullayup at 12:37 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
Oh man, I did a bunch of research about 2 years ago to answer pretty much exactly this question for my aunt. I'm going to copy and paste a bunch of chunks from emails I sent her.
First general advice:
1. You absolutely need a built-in light source. I think this is pretty common now (even when I was in college, many beginner scopes just had mirrors, which are awful for learners) but don't be tempted to forego this feature!
2. Compound microscopes are for slides with thin/transparent things. Blood, pond scum, cheek cells, etc. Stereo microscopes (aka stereoscopic or dissecting microscopes) are for more 3-D things, like feathers, leaves, coins, etc. Both have trade-offs in terms of ease-of-use. Compound scopes can be more difficult to focus on the sample, and they involve more sample preparation (dealing with slides and coverslips, for example). With a stereo microscope, you just plop whatever you find on the stage and start looking at it. Stereo scopes are binocular, however (many beginner compound scopes are monocular) which can be hard for young eyes to get used to, and can be impossible to use properly if the minimum interpupillary distance is too large for their faces.
3. Something else that might be fun, especially for modern kids sharing this tool, is the ability to attach a phone or other digital camera to the microscope, so multiple kids (or adults) view at the same time, and record what they find. I'm not sure about how that feature effects price on entry-level scopes, but its worth thinking about. There are microscopes that don't look like classic microscopes that don't even have an eye-piece, like this one (not a specific endorsement). I think they're fun, but i don't know if they would scratch the microscope "itch" for a kid.
4. The really unfortunate thing about all microscopes is that when you're buying lenses, you pay for quality. Precise glass is just expensive stuff.
5. This only applies if you get a compound scope, but depending on your budget, you might consider also getting a set of prepared slides. Carolina Biological Supply sells reasonably priced sets (as well as some absurdly expensive ones). This would probably be a good option too.
6. Also with regard to slides, she is definitely going to break and lose the coverslips and probably the slides! That's okay. Manufacturers of kids microscopes want you to believe that you only need a few of those things, but for scientists, coverslips and blank slides are disposable. If you buy them more coverslips, buy glass ones, not plastic. They really just work way better. Slide quality is not nearly so important for kid purposes.
The one my aunt ended up buying was this. They brought it on a family vacation and several professional users/builders of microscopes (including myself) agreed that it is an astoundingly good instrument for the price.
posted by juliapangolin at 12:44 PM on May 17, 2019 [15 favorites]
First general advice:
1. You absolutely need a built-in light source. I think this is pretty common now (even when I was in college, many beginner scopes just had mirrors, which are awful for learners) but don't be tempted to forego this feature!
2. Compound microscopes are for slides with thin/transparent things. Blood, pond scum, cheek cells, etc. Stereo microscopes (aka stereoscopic or dissecting microscopes) are for more 3-D things, like feathers, leaves, coins, etc. Both have trade-offs in terms of ease-of-use. Compound scopes can be more difficult to focus on the sample, and they involve more sample preparation (dealing with slides and coverslips, for example). With a stereo microscope, you just plop whatever you find on the stage and start looking at it. Stereo scopes are binocular, however (many beginner compound scopes are monocular) which can be hard for young eyes to get used to, and can be impossible to use properly if the minimum interpupillary distance is too large for their faces.
3. Something else that might be fun, especially for modern kids sharing this tool, is the ability to attach a phone or other digital camera to the microscope, so multiple kids (or adults) view at the same time, and record what they find. I'm not sure about how that feature effects price on entry-level scopes, but its worth thinking about. There are microscopes that don't look like classic microscopes that don't even have an eye-piece, like this one (not a specific endorsement). I think they're fun, but i don't know if they would scratch the microscope "itch" for a kid.
4. The really unfortunate thing about all microscopes is that when you're buying lenses, you pay for quality. Precise glass is just expensive stuff.
5. This only applies if you get a compound scope, but depending on your budget, you might consider also getting a set of prepared slides. Carolina Biological Supply sells reasonably priced sets (as well as some absurdly expensive ones). This would probably be a good option too.
6. Also with regard to slides, she is definitely going to break and lose the coverslips and probably the slides! That's okay. Manufacturers of kids microscopes want you to believe that you only need a few of those things, but for scientists, coverslips and blank slides are disposable. If you buy them more coverslips, buy glass ones, not plastic. They really just work way better. Slide quality is not nearly so important for kid purposes.
The one my aunt ended up buying was this. They brought it on a family vacation and several professional users/builders of microscopes (including myself) agreed that it is an astoundingly good instrument for the price.
posted by juliapangolin at 12:44 PM on May 17, 2019 [15 favorites]
https://www.amazon.com/Microscope-Students-Binocular-Microscopes-Repair-Observations/dp/B01I4H00SM/
posted by mikecable at 12:45 PM on May 17, 2019
posted by mikecable at 12:45 PM on May 17, 2019
What's your price range? This one is great because the light can come from above or under or both. There are cheaper versions of it, though. Note how it has lots of space to put three-dimensional objects underneath. We sometimes call this a dissecting scope, as opposed to one that just takes slides. Bonus: this type of scope is great for visualizing splinters that need to be removed!
posted by Knowyournuts at 12:45 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Knowyournuts at 12:45 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
If you are looking for something that specifically resembles a microscope so the USB above doesn't work, may I recommend a stereo microscope?
I really love stereo microscopes because a good one has tabs in which you can attach a slide but you can move them away so you can look at bigger or non-slide objects, like a handful of sand. I also use them frequently when I give talks to kids about geology because they can understand focusing and moving a light around without having to fuss with all the parts a compound microscope has. And sometimes the stage area is pretty big, so it's something their smaller, clumsier fingers can cope with when it comes to placing objects in it. I will admit 5 is about as young as I've used them with kids so you will be a better judge of 4 turning 5 than I am.
I use something like this or this one for doing some geology fieldwork when I don't want to hold a loupe because a) at its cost if it breaks it's okay and b) it's small and portable. You may need a small light like this from ikea as a light source if the one you find doesn't have one, but that's great, because you can move the light around as needed, especially if you're looking at something that has a real irregular surface (I actually use 2 but that may be too much, and the ones I use have bendable heads.) Something like this or this one would be a real work horse, but it would not break and would last forever. Granted, the magnifications vary but you would understand how much magnification she's capable of using and understanding.
These may seem a little serious? But maybe a consideration is if she wants to feel serious then a serious one she can use now won't seem childish if she keeps up her interest later, and they're simple enough to use, yet as she grows she can discover other, more complicated uses for them. I'm also biased - it was my dad's serious but small microscope he had that I played with as a kid that really got me interested in using them as an adult! :) I would love to suggest more simple ones but they are $$$.
Speaking of loupes, while they're not microscopes, they're cheaper and come in a variety of options. A watchmaker's loupe she can place over an object and then lean over might work, but it is monocular.
posted by barchan at 12:48 PM on May 17, 2019 [4 favorites]
I really love stereo microscopes because a good one has tabs in which you can attach a slide but you can move them away so you can look at bigger or non-slide objects, like a handful of sand. I also use them frequently when I give talks to kids about geology because they can understand focusing and moving a light around without having to fuss with all the parts a compound microscope has. And sometimes the stage area is pretty big, so it's something their smaller, clumsier fingers can cope with when it comes to placing objects in it. I will admit 5 is about as young as I've used them with kids so you will be a better judge of 4 turning 5 than I am.
I use something like this or this one for doing some geology fieldwork when I don't want to hold a loupe because a) at its cost if it breaks it's okay and b) it's small and portable. You may need a small light like this from ikea as a light source if the one you find doesn't have one, but that's great, because you can move the light around as needed, especially if you're looking at something that has a real irregular surface (I actually use 2 but that may be too much, and the ones I use have bendable heads.) Something like this or this one would be a real work horse, but it would not break and would last forever. Granted, the magnifications vary but you would understand how much magnification she's capable of using and understanding.
These may seem a little serious? But maybe a consideration is if she wants to feel serious then a serious one she can use now won't seem childish if she keeps up her interest later, and they're simple enough to use, yet as she grows she can discover other, more complicated uses for them. I'm also biased - it was my dad's serious but small microscope he had that I played with as a kid that really got me interested in using them as an adult! :) I would love to suggest more simple ones but they are $$$.
Speaking of loupes, while they're not microscopes, they're cheaper and come in a variety of options. A watchmaker's loupe she can place over an object and then lean over might work, but it is monocular.
posted by barchan at 12:48 PM on May 17, 2019 [4 favorites]
Or everything juliapangolin said. Great answer!
posted by barchan at 12:49 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by barchan at 12:49 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
This is probably not what you're after given that it's probably different than what she expects (she might not think it's "real"), but you can get a deluxe individual Foldoscope kit, which is a microscope designed to be as cheap as possible to support scientific applications that can't use or can't afford a traditional microscope, and there's a community around it.
posted by foxfirefey at 12:54 PM on May 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by foxfirefey at 12:54 PM on May 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
I bought my kid that exact microscope and I was fairly impressed with it, given my low expectations. In fact, I just used it last night to look at some rocks with my kid. I think that the magnification is fine for what it is. What’s great about it is it’s inexpensive, it has a decent light, you can put anything on it and get enough magnification that it looks interesting. We like to take it out to the backyard or bring on camping trips for instant close-ups. Put a live slug or worm right on it! I can leave it out in her room for whatever and I don’t worry about it breaking. Her friends have fun with it!
So...get two things! Heh. Given that your kid has stated a preference, it’s probably worth it to get something better but I don’t think my kid would be that into slides. I’d like to get a “next step” microscope for the house but I think the “kid one” will be in play for a few years more. (She’s 8, I got the microscope when she was 5/6.)
posted by amanda at 2:37 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
So...get two things! Heh. Given that your kid has stated a preference, it’s probably worth it to get something better but I don’t think my kid would be that into slides. I’d like to get a “next step” microscope for the house but I think the “kid one” will be in play for a few years more. (She’s 8, I got the microscope when she was 5/6.)
posted by amanda at 2:37 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
This one says you can put larger objects right on it. For me, I guess that’s a key feature for a kids microscope. That and a light. And not be so expensive that if it gets broken, you’re not mad about it.
posted by amanda at 2:58 PM on May 17, 2019
posted by amanda at 2:58 PM on May 17, 2019
I have the microscope you’ve linked to and it’s pretty good for its price point. My son and I use it for dead bugs, leaves etc. you can see the veins in the leaves nicely.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 3:38 PM on May 17, 2019
posted by St. Peepsburg at 3:38 PM on May 17, 2019
We have this.
I love it. My kid can use it, her friends can use it, it's not so pricey that it's stressful, and did I mention I can use it??? I like to examine seeds as they start, we've examined pollen, shards of glass, mold from an orange, etc. etc.
It's great. Super simple and I can't imagine buying another one that's fancier. We've even looked at blooooood under it.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 4:40 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
I love it. My kid can use it, her friends can use it, it's not so pricey that it's stressful, and did I mention I can use it??? I like to examine seeds as they start, we've examined pollen, shards of glass, mold from an orange, etc. etc.
It's great. Super simple and I can't imagine buying another one that's fancier. We've even looked at blooooood under it.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 4:40 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
I got one of these for each of the grandkids for Christmas and one for myself. It has a built-in light and is a little fussy to use, but works well enough to be fun. It is not what I'd regard as a "serious microscope," but it might fit someone's idea of a useful teaching thing and it sure is economical.
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 5:29 PM on May 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 5:29 PM on May 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
Hi, professional scientist and teacher of microscopy here. I want to umpteenthly assert that she absolutely definitely needs a stereo microscope, i.e. a dissecting scope.
Microscopes for slides are not fun for kids because slides are not fun. Looking at very thin sections of things and understanding what you are seeing requires an exceptionally good visual imagination, something that she is still building right now, and something that high-zoom dissecting scopes will absolutely help her build that. Anything cool that a kid can see on a slide and understand, she can see on a really good dissecting scope. If you get one that goes up to 80x magnification, she'll be able to see extraordinarily tiny things, like the mites that live in your eyelashes, I'm just saying.
I was your kid! I could not have handled a compound microscope at 5. I got one at 8, and I was barely able to handle it, and making my own slides was really pretty much impossible. I would have been a lot happier with a very good quality dissecting scope. Also, the college students that I teach are a lot happier with dissecting scopes, too!
I see that folks are commenting that binocular microscopes are hard for kids, and that's probably true, because they're hard for adults, too. But it won't be hard for her to learn to just look with her dominant eye, or she can wear a cool pirate eye patch over one eye. Don't let her squint the non-viewing eye closed, this will lead to headaches.
.......
But if you're really dead set on getting her a good, *real* microscope, I am trying to part with a mid-90s Nikon Biophot trinocular.
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 8:46 PM on May 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
Microscopes for slides are not fun for kids because slides are not fun. Looking at very thin sections of things and understanding what you are seeing requires an exceptionally good visual imagination, something that she is still building right now, and something that high-zoom dissecting scopes will absolutely help her build that. Anything cool that a kid can see on a slide and understand, she can see on a really good dissecting scope. If you get one that goes up to 80x magnification, she'll be able to see extraordinarily tiny things, like the mites that live in your eyelashes, I'm just saying.
I was your kid! I could not have handled a compound microscope at 5. I got one at 8, and I was barely able to handle it, and making my own slides was really pretty much impossible. I would have been a lot happier with a very good quality dissecting scope. Also, the college students that I teach are a lot happier with dissecting scopes, too!
I see that folks are commenting that binocular microscopes are hard for kids, and that's probably true, because they're hard for adults, too. But it won't be hard for her to learn to just look with her dominant eye, or she can wear a cool pirate eye patch over one eye. Don't let her squint the non-viewing eye closed, this will lead to headaches.
.......
But if you're really dead set on getting her a good, *real* microscope, I am trying to part with a mid-90s Nikon Biophot trinocular.
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 8:46 PM on May 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by rdn at 12:14 PM on May 17, 2019 [4 favorites]