My four-year-old daughter is a budding entomologist. Wherever he goes, he collects insects. Nothing is too creepy or disgusting for her: she simply picks up whatever it is, looks at it in wonder and appreciation, and whispers little comforts to make the experience less terrifying. For the error.
If there is a device for every situation, my husband, Rael, will find it. In this case, it was a blister-shaped microscope: an inexpensive, easy-to-use microscope that uses “bubble” slides. The bubbles are big enough to hold a live insect for a minute or two, so you can watch the antennae and legs moving, and then set the little guy free. The other day they examined an aphid. My daughter’s reaction: “It’s beautiful.” My son’s: silent shudder.
Another fun experiment used some algae and water cleaned from the fish tank. We saw all kinds of tiny organisms that brought back happy memories of science in elementary school.
We saw a blister-shaped microscope on sale at the local science museum store, but we got ours for the same price online and it came with a bunch of slides.
Asha Dornfest is a GeekMom guest and editor of Tricks for parents.
