All About Microscopes for Kids — with Free Printables

October 20, 2021 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

Using microscopes with kids — whether at home or in the classroom — is a lot of fun. It’s always cool to see how amazed they are by the things you can see under a microscope that you wouldn’t know were there otherwise. Just a drop of water from a nearby pond or creek can be full of interesting things to observe.

Entry-level microscopes for classroom or home use tend to be both durable and easy to use so they’re great for kids. You can choose plastic or metal models with various ranges of magnification. They often come with sample slides and other fun stuff for kids to explore.

This National Geographic branded microscope, for example, has large knobs that are easy for kids to manipulate. It magnifies up to 400 times and includes specimens from plants, rocks and minerals, as well as empty slides and the tools kids need to collect their own specimens. There’s also a lab guide full of activities for them to try.

If you like a more traditional microscope like the ones you might have used growing up, try this one from AmScope. It has up to 1200 times magnification and weighs less than three pounds. It includes everything you need to hatch and observe brine shrimp, as well as prepared and blank slides and supplies to collect specimens. It also includes a hard sided carrying case.

Whatever microscope you choose, be sure to grab our free printable microscope activity set. This set includes parts of the microscope (labeled and with labels for the student to add), a word search, writing page and several sheets for drawing observations from under the microscope. You can grab the printables from our online shop.

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Reflecting on the Past Year with Kids

I’m in deep denial about the fact that new year is almost upon us again! It’s been the fastest and the longest year at the same time, and I can look back and see some good things as well as some things I wish had gone differently.

Doing a year in review with your kids — whether in the classroom or at home — is a good way to capture some of their memories and the things they really liked about the year gone by.

There are a lot of different printable year in review worksheets you can use if you want to make this super easy. Here are links to a few (often part of larger posts about NYE celebrations with kids that are worth a read, too):

Teach Beside Me has lots of fun printables fro the end of the year, including a year in review that covers favorite memory, funniest memory and the best book they read, among other topics.
NurtureStore‘s version has space for a self-portrait and prompts like favorite toy, best day out this year and future dream job.
Remember favorites, their “best idea” of the year and have room for setting goals for next year with this one from The Keele Deal.
The year in review from Yes We Made This has room for drawing or writing and includes things like something they learned, a memory they made and a place they visited.

Of course you could pretty easily make your own year in review for the whole family to do that asks questions based on what you most want to remember. (Favorite video game? Best friend? Favorite family memory?)

And if after the year in review you’re ready to look ahead a bit, Mrs. Merry has new year’s resolution printables to inspired kids to look ahead and set goals for things they want to try. You can totally fill this one out as a grownup, too.

[Photo: Mrs. Merry]

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