Educational Insights GeoSafari Jr. My First Kids Microscope Toy, Preschool Science, STEM Toy, Classroom Must Haves, Ages 3+

I ordered this before reading any reviews. I then went back and read quite a few reviews on this microscope and then became very worried as a lot of them said the microscope was poor quality. I tested this out myself when it came in so that if it wasnt of good quality or easy to use I could send it back. This is a christmas present for my daughter. The microscope works perfectly, and is easy to use. I think that people need to keep in mind age appropriate standards. For a 3-5 year old the magnification is great and clear. The knob raises or lowers the lens piece to view closer or slightly further away. Overall I think this is a perfect BEGINNER microscope for a 3 year old. It's not meant to be professional.

Prior to buying this microscope for my daughter, I read a LOT of Amazon reviews of it. I ultimately decided to purchase it after reading the description a few more times. This is a simple microscope for kids to use. There is one large knob used to focus, although it really is just going to zoom in or out. Having two lenses is great and makes looking through it much easier for kids. My daughter has enjoyed putting lots of different things in it and looking at them.When I was considering this, many of the negative reviews talked about the level of magnification. As is mentioned in the product description, this is an 8x microscope. Kids who have ever seen a "real" microscope are likely to be disappointed in this one. My daughter has seen a 10x and a 12x loupe, and treats this similarly. I explained to her that it would just make things appear bigger. I would agree with others that it might make just as much sense to just get a kid a magnifying glass. I think the fun of this one is that it **looks** like a microscope, which kids are probably going to enjoy.I would recommend using the lightbulb (battery powered). We did not for awhile, and it made a huge difference when we finally powered it up. You can see fine without it in good light conditions, but the light made a big difference. There is no learning code, and young kids can probably use it easily. I could definitely see many kids getting bored with this after looking at the same items a few times. At this house we are probably going to retire it soon. My kid does not play with it as much, and we just got a Dino-Lite USB Hanheld Digital Microscope, so it will be tough to convince her to go back to this one. Still, I credit this Educational Insights microscope for even getting her interested. Now, here's to open she becomes a medical researcher and pays off my student loans one day.

I was a little worried because of the reviews that it was going to arrive broken. Luckily it came in great shape! My kids (5&7) love it and won’t stop fighting over it. I’ll have to order another. Although I would like to order the pink for my daughter I don’t know why it would be more expensive than this one. It does seem a little on the cheap side so if you have a rough child I don’t think it will last long. My 2 year old got a hold of it and I was on edge knowing if she were to drop it that it would break. Overall a good product for the price!

DO NOT BUY THIS!!!!I purchased this microscope for a friends son and was very excited to give it. When I received the package it rattled around a little but I thought nothing of it since sometimes there are multiple parts in things like this for the parenta to put together. When the child opened the package, the microscope was in fact broken beyond repair as the interior support where the view finder connects to the body had snapped off. I immediately returned the package and ordered another to be shipped to their house. The second one also arrived broken, in the exact same way as the first (see picture). Needless to say, I did not order it a 3rd time.The packaging of this item is not appropriate for the weak points of the plastic and needs to be fixed by the manufacturer. This could be done very simply by adding a piece of cardboard or styrofoam under the part that broke off. If you do insist on purchasing this microscope, I suggest getting it at a retail location where you can inspect the item before you pay for it.

I bought this for my son for his 4th birthday. He LOVES it. It works exactly as described and is very easy to use. It does take three AA batteries and you will need a small phillips head screw driver to install them. So far, our favorite thing to look at are bath tub bubbles. They are colorful and shiny and pop faster where the microscope light hits. We love to watch them pop and have had several conversations about light, heat, and energy since discovering the "pop" patterns.It is important that you DO NOT get your microscope wet. When we look at bubbles, I put the bubbles in the tray and hold the microscope. My kiddo knows to view and not touch when he's in the tub. When he's dry, he does the handling and I get to view and not touch. ;-)This really is a great toy and a very well made preschool level scientific instrument. I think the telescope is going to be amongst this year's Christmas gifts. Great job and thank you for catering to young minds.

This microscope is a good introduction to using real microscopes. It got our son wanting to go bring in more specimens from outdoors to examine under the scope. However, be sure that you know when you purchase the product that it's magnification is actually quite weak. It might actually be less magnifying than the children's hand-held magnifying glasses that you can purchase for around $5. There are no clips to hold little slides and there's no magnification adjustment to change strength of the scope.However, your child will feel like a real scientist for a year or two should they be around the age of 2-4. After that, I suggest upgrading to a more expensive but actually useful microscope so that you can hold slides in place to examine and actually be able to look at things on a closer level.