Microscope for a 10 year old.

[Tropo-Bob]

I am thinking of buying a microscope for my great nephew. I am hoping that it is something that he, or his younger brothers could grow into.

Anybody out there have any suggestions of what would be suitable or features to look for/or avoid. Should one buy any accessories with it? (For example, already prepared slides).

My budget would be $200, maybe up to $250, though I hope not!

I was only lightly was involved with microscopes as a 11-year old (I lacked the money to pursue it further; I brought a cheapo for 30/-), so any help here would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[Shiraz]

only suggestion would be to look at a digital microscope Bob. Bought a cheapy from Jaycar for a grandson and he loved it - easy to use, quite a wide range of magnification and reasonable quality images were available for projects. Then when he got sick of it and put it in the junk drawer, it was no great loss. Should be able to get something of moderately good quality for your $200 - haven't used either, but Jaycar has a better quality one https://www.jaycar.com.au/5mp-usb-2-0-digital-microscope-with-professional-stand/p/QC3199 and there is a Celestron for around that money.

[el_draco]

Agreed. As a teacher, you want something simple but not likely to cause frustration. Its a bit like thinking astro gear for a youngling. :thumbsup:

[Wavytone]

You may be surprised if it captures his imagination. Your budget should buy a nice one.

My parents were utterly clueless unscientific arty farty types but gave me a cheap japanese "hobby" one when I was 8 along with an instruction book and a book about the microscopic world.

This had two eyepieces and objectives upto 400X, had a concave condenser mirror underneath for illumination (a desk lamp is fine, sunlight may fry the subject), and a bunch of pre-prepped slides as well as a dangerously sharp scalpel, tweezers and clean slides and very thin glass covers for DIY efforts. Needless to say there were a few minor cut fingers and breakages, and I recall buying some more with hard-earned pocketmoney at age 10.

It really did work, though fairly dim at 400X as I recall, having fairly primitive (by modern standards) and uncoated optics. Anything modern should be pretty good in comparison.

The dozen or so prepped slides had things like pollen, a hair, butterfly wing, a slice of a plant stem, a few dead bugs - flea and dust mite as I recall.

It didn't take long before I was making samples of grass and other plants, pond water with things swimming around in it, my own blood and so-on. In high school a few years later I discovered the geology lab had a diamond saw for slicing stones; equipped with a flat grinding stone and some polishing compound it was fairly easy to make samples for the microscope.

Kept it for years, lots of interest for me.

[The Mekon]

Start him with a stereoscope. Great for insects, rocks etc. Power will only be 30x or so but much easier to use.

[xelasnave]

Buy an expensive one for your nephew that you keep at your house.
Or...
Go cheap and if he uses it more than is healthy buy something better.
Alex

[Tropo-Bob]

Thanks Alex,

I like both those ideas.

Thanks all for your suggestions. They have been helpful.

[croweater]

+1 for the stereoscope. He will have fun with insects,plants etc out of the back yard. Definately easier to view and probably more suited to a 10 year olds interests. Cheers Richard.