This is a website that discusses the application of a microscope for kids.  There are various types of microscopes that we can consider.  First of all, there is a high power compound light microscope that is use for biological type applications where specimens are viewed on glass slides. We want to keep things simple, so the simple light microscope would generally have a very basic condenser and monocular eye tubes.  It probably has three objective lens. The objectives are generally, 4X, 10X, 40X. This gives a total magnification of 40X, 100X and 400X powers which is certainly capable of viewing a typical biological specimen that a kid may be interested in.

A kid microscope borderlines a toy microscope which can be found at various toy stores.  However, you generally get what you paid for.  A simple toy microscope found in a toy store may be a very attractive price but it is generally not going to give you a quality of viewing for the kids to sustain interest.  Paying a little more money would certainly get you better quality optics.  Another type of kid microscope would be the stereoscopic microscope. This type of microscope is really best for the younger children because they are unable to comprehend the magnification under a high power microscope.  For instance, when looking at blood cells, the magnification is so great, it is difficult to comprehend just how much it is magnified.  However, most kids are interested in bugs and insects.  Let’s take a common housefly that has a compound eye.  Now, let’s look at the facets of the house fly’s compound eye under a low power kid microscope.  The stereoscope would provide us a stereoscopic view of these facets that allow us to see it in much greater detail than without a viewing aid.  This type of low power microscope is very attractive to kids from both budgetary standpoints as well as simplicity standpoints.  They are easy to operate, easy to turn on the light, and easy to raise and lower the microscope’s head to get a specimen into focus.  Kids will find it quite enjoyable viewing their own specimens that they find in their backyard or on nature or hiking trips.

Before purchasing a kid microscope, one must first take into consideration the age of the child and the child’s interest.  If the child is very young, such as less than five years old, then it is recommend getting a simple stereo binocular microscope.  This will allow basic viewing of nature specimens.  If the kid is a little older and is really into biology and science, then it may be best to get a high power compound light microscope.  For the very first unit, it may be acceptable to get a simple toy microscope, however, be sure to plan ahead and consider at some point children should upgrade from the toy microscope to a higher grade biological microscope.  First of all, most toy microscopes are monocular, meaning they have only one eye piece.  This is not going to give as good of viewing image only seeing out of one eye. So consider that in the future they may want to get a better binocular kid microscope that allows so much more comfortable viewing of the image. And remember the reason for the microscope. The microscope is the means, a way to introduce your child, to the micro world.  Therefore, since your objective is for the child to take interest in the science subjects, you want to consider that the better quality child microscope would be a better means to reach your goal.  This is because the lowest grade of kid microscope often has such low quality optics that the child gets frustrated and quickly loses interest in the microscopy equipment. However, individual needs and budgets certainly vary, so a parent of a child student must consider these issues when purchasing a kid microscope.