Science Toy Review

Okay, I’ve reviewed a couple of the SmartLab Science Kits before and this one is equally as impressive as the others. This one is officially called their indoor/outdoor microscope and as such, it’s really pretty cool. Basically, it’s like a powerful field magnifying scope that you can carry around observing the surfaces of interesting things outdoors. Or you can put it on its small stand and call it an indoor microscope. As a microscope, it’s okay. It’s got a little power and it comes with a stand and a slide holder and a knob for focusing. But I really liked it as an outdoor field scope.

It magnifies 40 times, which may not sound like much, but you’d be amazed at what a penny or dollar bill looks like at that magnification. Common tree leaves are also interesting, and certainly bugs if you can get them to stay still long enough to focus.

Another great thing about the SmartLab science kits is the instruction books they come with. They are really top notch, and reading the books alone is pretty interesting. Try reading along the book with your kid and he’ll just get more and more excited about going out to play with the microscope. The SmartLab indoor/outdoor microscope comes with the 40x scope, stand, four prepared slides, two blank slides, tweezers, two collection vials and a carrying case.

My recommendation: for under $20, this is a great kit for the future scientist. You can find one wherever the best selling toys or children’s microscopes are sold.