We have quite a few STEM kits at the library that help you enjoy your time outside: Star Gazing, Hiking, Bugs, Bird Watching. These kits all focus on things that you can see with your naked eye. But what about all the nature that’s smaller than us? There are so many things that our eyes can’t see! This kit helps you begin to see some of the tiny worlds that surround us.
This is a pretty simple kit. It includes:
- Pocket Microscope
- 25 prepared slides in a box and a list of what they are
- 2 books on all of the tiny things around us, Unseen Worlds and Tiny Creatures.
Do not be fooled: even though this kit is simple it is awesome. Everyone in our family, from the three year old to the 38 year old, found these slides amazing. Here’s the list of the slides included:
The kids really enjoyed the plant ones (pumpkin stem, pine leaf) but I thought the coolest one was the honeybee’s leg. Did you know part of a honeybee’s leg has hairs on it??
Technically this kit is for ages 6 and above, because these are real glass slides and they can break. BUT if you handle the slides carefully and set it up for a younger child, I can tell you that my three year old loved it. They probably can’t adjust the zoom and focus without help, but if I set it up he loved looking at each slide.
The books are fun too. I made my 9 year old read one of them, which she did not want to do, but I overheard her telling her sister the next day that “that book was really good!” So my kids liked the books, even when I forced them to read one. 😉
This kit is available in the Youth Services department in the STEM kit area (it’s in the northwest corner of the floor, between the J Fiction and the Story & Activity Room). It checks out for 3 weeks.
Questions? Email Laura at [email protected].