Hi Darryl,
Mate, I'm very glad to read that the scope session went really well for you,
It is always the case that some kids/people will struggle to figure out how to look into an eyepiece, be it telescope or microscope, or a camera
. Please excuse me for not remembering to mention this earlier,
For me it has been a thing of trial and error to find a way that works well. I've done outreach sessions many, many times over many years. In the end, what I find works for me is when a novice comes to the eyepiece for the first time, I get close to them and quietly speak to them about 'now look into the glass window' pointing to the glass of the eyepiece. Somehow this seems to work for 99% of people. They seem to figure out that there is some depth to the glass and that they need to adjust their head to get to look through the 'window'.
To dictate 'now look here!' doesn't seem to help. Only causes anxiety and rush, and a lot of people will just say 'oh, yeah, yeah! I see it!'. Yet when you take your time to quietly talk to them, they remain calm and really respond.
Eyepiece selection is also important. Eyepieces with tricky eye positioning or exceptionally long eye relief are not a good choice. And don't use your top shelf eyepieces either. I have a few EPs just for outreach sessions. They are easy for novices to use, and I don't mind getting finger prints or makeup on them.
Yeah, all of the above is great to say AFTER your session,
Sorry about that. Got carried away with responding to your question instead of looking at the broader picture of kids and scopes. But I think this might have been a blessing in disguise as I'm sure you would have had enough to contend with...
Next time you'll have more experience and be even better prepared...
Alex.