Our children use a microscope at times and quite enjoy this. We picked one up second hand so I dont' believe there were slides in it that were already "prepared", if there were they would be quite old. My oldest daughter has even taken the microscope with her at times babysitting to show the kids so they can look at samples too that they collect from the field behind us.
We have also collected different leaves, bark off trees, fungi or any little things of interest, even samples from the pond in our area. Literally you could use anything to look under a microscope at, bugs, soil etc... the boundaries are limitless and the kids really do enjoy finding and collecting items themselves for this.
My husband buys really small tools for his hobby of models, spacecrafts, airplanes etc... they have very small tips with some being curved, long fine tweezers too, any of these would be useful for disecting I'm sure. I will ask him where he buys his tools.
We haven't done any animals or ventured into "dissecting", for my girls this would gross them out, they have a hard enough time with the bugs that come into the house at times, Lol. There are also some who want to protect any life form and won't want to get into the dissecting of them although perhaps if they weren't alive then it might be easier for them. We tend to use the things mentioned around our area and I let the children freely use the microscope themselves and jot down their findings, not a structured activity.
All in all a Microscope is well worth the money and again you don't need to buy a new one even a used one in good working condition will due just fine.
I will keep my eye open for one of these Joanne when we go out to the thrift stores.
Hello! i haven't dissected with my children but dissected a frog in grade 4 (I couldn't eat broccoli for a long time after that) and then a rat in Grade 12, and couldn't eat chicken after that for about a year... and I can still picture that rat face and the smell. So I would lean towards pictures with my kids or for signing them up to do this with someone else if they show a lot of interest. I would not force it as I think I would be better off personally without the experience. My hubby is a fisherman so I am sure that they will have plenty of opportunities to see the insides of those. There was a post on the different drum website of which microscopes were recommended some time ago and several people responded with some great sounding counsel.
I'm daydreaming about a microscope. Does anyone use these? Are there features you wish you paid for - or features that you pd for and don't need/use? Which prepared slides were the best? What non-prepared slide was a great learning experience? Is it worth the $?
What about dissecting? What tools were the most helpful? What source did you use (company that the specimen was fresh from)? How did you store it in your home? Which animals did you learn from the most? What did you do with children who were grossed out? Did you make them watch? I have heard that the larger animals are easier. Any other advice?
