Under the Microscope

One of our favorite activities this past summer and now that we are almost into the fall has been looking underneath the microscope. We have looked at hair, fibers in clothes, leaves, grass, flower pedals, cat fur, soils, mold, bark,… it really has been a lot of fun for the girls to see first-hand what something looks like very close up and the difference of what it looks like not underneath the microscope. It has continued to opened their eyes to a whole new world in science, which I am all for.

Our microscope actually was something that my oldest daughter asked for when she was in preschool several years ago. I remember her going to preschool during her show-and-tell time, and she was so excited to share with the other kids the various things that they could see when looking through it. Unfortunately, not all the children in her class were there with her and she just could not understand why. So as the years have gone by…her love of experimenting and looking have not changed. And now her younger sister has joined in for discoveries of the unknown.  

The microscope that we have is a Discovery brand, unfortunately it recently lost its energy and the lenses are not focusing and becoming blurry. We are in the midst of researching for a new microscope but there are many challenges as we are finding when it comes to the quality of what you see, the price, and type of lenses, etc. If anyone has any recommendations of a good microscope but not at a huge price, please let me know. I would be very interested in learning more.