Do you have a little scientist at home? My son is constantly asking me how and why things work the way they do. And the best way to answer his questions is to show him!
One of the best gifts you can get for a kid who loves science is a microscope. A microscope can help your kids learn about their own bodies or view pond water to see what kinds of microorganisms live in it. As a homeschooling mom, I incorporate microscopes into our science curriculum to give my kids hands-on activities that will help them retain the information they read in their books.
The LeapFrog® Magic Adventures Microscope™ is designed for children and comes with everything they need to get started examining everyday things in closer detail. With 50x-200x magnification, your child can explore every nook and cranny of their little universes.
Plus, the built-in 2.4” LCD screen ensures clear viewing no matter what time of day it is or night. It’s also perfect if you have multiple kids, so they can view the specimen together and share their observations.
My son has been going through all the smart slides and watching all the educational videos on the microscope. Since I can’t stand bugs, I am super happy that he is able to zoom in and study the body of a cockroach without me having to catch one!
So, if you're looking for a fun gift that will encourage your child's scientific curiosity, be sure to check out the LeapFrog® Magic Adventures Microscope™!
How Does the LeapFrog® Magic Adventures Microscope™ Work?
The LeapFrog® Magic Adventures Microscope™ is a real microscope that allows children to see things that are too small to see with the naked eye. Your kids can explore microworlds across various topics, including flowers, insects, and the human body.
With the LeapFrog® Magic Adventures Microscope™, kids can discover answers to their curious questions like: How do leaves change colors? What do plant cells look like? What is sand made of anyway?
The smart slides come preloaded with amazing BBC videos and images that kids can view without looking around for specimens. But if your child does find something they are interested in and want to take a closer look at it, they can put it on the reusable slides or large sample tray.
No matter which slide you use, all you need to do is place the slide into the slides tray. Then you use the zoom dial to move the camera closer or farther away from the sample to focus the image on the screen.
If your kids want to share their findings with their friends, they can capture about 100 photos in Microscope Mode and save them onto a microSD card (not included).
The LeapFrog® Magic Adventures Microscope™ also comes with fun video games where your kids have to defend microorganisms from micro-invaders. The microscope comes with the What’s This? Quiz as well, which displays close-up images, and your kids need to figure out what each image is.
Why I Recommend the LeapFrog® Magic Adventures Microscope™ for Kids Under 8
You might be wondering, why don’t I just get an advanced microscope for my kids?
We do have a high power compound microscope at home that I bought for my kids last year. However, it has been sitting on the shelf collecting dust because it’s way too complicated for my kids to use!
Even when I tried to help my kids with the high power compound microscope, I had a lot of trouble getting the image to focus or finding the area that we wanted to look at. And when I finally get it to work, the kids have trouble looking through the eyepiece since it’s so small.
As a homeschooling mom with multiple kids, the LCD viewing screen on the LeapFrog® Magic Adventures Microscope™ is a huge bonus. We can study specimens together and share our observations. There is no fighting or wrestling over who gets to look into the eyepiece. The kids can scroll up, down, left, and right to see more of the specimen in closer detail. It only takes a few seconds for the LeapFrog® Magic Adventures Microscope™ to focus and the kids can do it all by themselves.
Taking a Closer Look at the LeapFrog® Magic Adventures Microscope™
My son absolutely loves going through the images and videos that are on the smart slides. The LeapFrog® Magic Adventures Microscope™ gives him the ability to scroll around the LCD screen and the choice of different organisms to look at. Using the microscope is a much more interactive and engaging way for him to learn about biology than reading a book!
Our bearded dragon has been shedding, and we kept the shedded skin just for fun. The reusable slide provides the perfect opportunity for us to learn more about the bearded dragon’s skin in detail.
It was very easy to open the slide and place a piece of the skin inside. Then you simply place the slide on the tray where you normally put the smart slides.
With just a few turns of the zoom dial, we were able to focus on the reptile’s skin on the viewing screen. You can see how the skin is covered with scales, which is very different than human skin. It was fascinating how the scales formed patterns and that they seemed to overlap slightly.
And if you want to take an even closer look, just press the magnification button! You can also adjust the brightness of the sample light depending on the transparency of the specimen.
I really love the large sample tray that allows you to put non-flat objects under the microscope. It has a casing that protects the specimen while viewing, so that you don’t have to worry about damaging the specimen or lens of the microscope if you descend the zoom dial too far down.
My son also loves playing the action-packed adventure game that comes on the LeapFrog® Magic Adventures Microscope™. It’s a relatively simple game where you scroll around and eliminate germs and bacterias, and feed and heal microorganisms. What a fun way to learn the difference between good and bad microorganisms!
Final Thoughts on the LeapFrog® Magic Adventures Microscope™
If you’re looking for a gift that will inspire your kids to pursue their love of science, the LeapFrog® Magic Adventures Microscope™ is a great choice. It’s easy to use and comes with lots of educational smart slides.
To get started, I encourage you to take a little trip around your neighborhood with your little ones to collect leaves, flowers, or blades of grass. If your kids are like mine, you will also come home with lots of rocks and sticks. Let them examine these items with the LeapFrog® Magic Adventures Microscope™ and discuss their observations.
With this microscope, your child will be able to explore the world around them in a whole new way.
Betty Boiron is a homeschooling mom of two and the brains behind the blog Mombrite. She spends her days designing fun and educational activities for her kids. She aims to share all the creative crafts and magical science experiments with other families and make learning fun!