Pocket Microscope from Interplay

Interplay Toys have a great range of toys in their ‘My Living World’ collection that are brilliant if you have a budding scientist or biologist in your midst. Educational toys that are designed and endorsed by Science experts, the range promises hours of fun but with the added incentive of helping learning and understanding of the natural world too.

The Pocket Microscope has been recommended by TV presenter and naturalist Nick Baker, and costs just £9.99. It is said to be great for nature study, crime scene investigation and science experiments, and, with Joe showing a growing interest in the natural world, I thought this was the perfect toy for Joe to try out.

The Pocket Microscope is very easy to use. You need to add two AA batteries, once these are added the light immediately switches the microscope on, and once the microscope is closed again, it switches off, so there is no need for fiddling with tricky switches, or just forgetting to turn it off. The microscope comes with a couple of clear slides for your exhibits, you simply need to place these on a flat surface, then place the microscope directly over the top. Using the dial you can then bring your sample into focus. The dial is simple to use for little hands, Joe had no problem with this.

Joe collected samples of plants, leaves and bark from the garden to take a closer look at. We were interested in looking for insects too, but the weather was too awful to spend too much time outside, so we will do this at a later date and settled for using the slides that came with the microscope. Joe was really interested in looking at his samples up close, and made lots of comments about what he could see. He also loved using the tweezers to put his finds into the small sample jars that also come with the kit.

The kit comes with a couple of pre prepared slides. One has insects that can be looked at in great detail, whilst the second is perfect for budding CSI’s, with fabric fibres and cloth samples. Joe really enjoyed the insect slide in particular, and the booklet that comes with the kit gives you suggestions for how to look at real insects in nature.

‘My Living World’ is a brilliant collection that will give your child hours of educational fun, and is something that you can enjoy with them.

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