I was super excited when I was asked to review the Educational Insights GeoSafari Tuff Scope. I have two boys ages 6 1/2 and 5, I home school and I am always looking for ways to show them how the world works. The Tuff Scope is a kid friendly microscope and field scope. Here are the specs listed o the box:
Super-durable, kid tested microscope and field scope!
-400x Magnification microscope
-Removable field scope with 2x zoom
-Perfect for exploration at home, school, and on the go!
-400x Magnification microscope
-Removable field scope with 2x zoom
-Perfect for exploration at home, school, and on the go!
It does seem VERY durable. I wouldn’t give it to my two year old, but pretty much any 5 year old or older would be able to handle this (within reason) without harming it too much. It seems the biggest things you need to be careful of is to not touch the lenses, but that is pretty easy to avoid because they are set back in the casing (probably a preventative measure).
My 5 year old, who likes to look at how things work for a little bit thought it was really fun and came up with 3 other things he wanted to look at before he moved on. My 6 1/2 year old who loves to see how things work couldn’t get enough of it. I think he found 10+ things to look at (6+ of which he setup and viewed by himself). We looked at skin, a penny, onion skin, salt, craisin, faux fur, dried pineapple, paper towel, and on and on. The only fault I can find in the microscope is that the base has a small drawer that is barely too small for the slides to fit in. Other than that the microscope is really a lot of fun.
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| Can’t quite fit all the slides in. |
The bummer about this scope is that we couldn’t get a reliable result using it as a field scope. The viewer piece detaches from the base and you are able to take it outside and look at things in their natural habitat. The problems seems to be lighting (the base has a built in light) and holding the item you are viewing still enough to focus in on it. I was only able to catch a focused glimpse every now and then, but my 6 1/2 year old wasn’t able to get even that. I am really sad about it not working as a field scope because that would be just awesome. That being said I still highly recommend the Tuff Scope as a microscope because it is so kid friendly and really works!
The GeoSafari Tuff Scope is compatible with the GeoSafari Tuff Cam digital camera. When used with the Tuff Cam the Tuff Scope transforms into a digital microscope projecting magnified images onto a computer screen or projector.
Many thanks to my sister Karlyn for reviewing the GeoSafari Tuff Scope for me!
Buy It:
The GeoSafari Tuff Scope can be purchased from Educational Insights for $39.99.
Win It!
Educational Insights is giving one reader a GeoSafari Tuff Scope!
Disclosure: My reviewer was provided with the above mentioned product by the company, at no cost to herself, in order to facilitate a review. All opinions expressed are honest and are entirely her own.
About Amy @ Oh So Savvy Mom
