A good science kit for my 9 year old?

Marcel

Marcel

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Marcel
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I'm after something decent. He came home from school the other day, having used pocket microscopes at school.
He's also getting quite interested in science and how things work, so I want to get him something in this vein for christmas.

I don't want a cheap toy kit that lasts for 2 minutes with some fart goo in it. I want something fun that will make him go "Whoah, that's awesome".
I was also thinking of getting him a half decent microscope (Not a pocket one, but nothing fancy).

Any ideas? I want to encourage the love of science ;)
 
My 8 year old nephew has one of those electronic kits and loves it - he also has a microscope like this one and it's ideal.
 
"science" is a big ass field - do you know what bit of it he's interested in ? - if its largely biology then a microscope is a good call , (if you get a decent one you/he will be able to attach a camera using a digiscoping kit and take pics of small stuff as well - could be something you guys can do together) , that aside the Natural History Museum do some good kits - I'll ask my mum (who was primary science teacher of the decade 2000-2010) for other recommendations and get back to you.

http://www.nhmshop.co.uk/science-nature-kits/category.html
 
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The Business/Office/Industrial section of ebay often has good quality second-user microscopes for sale at reasonable prices.
 
Tori_T said:
The Business/Office/Industrial section of ebay often has good quality second-user microscopes for sale at reasonable prices.
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thats a good call , but one thing to be aware of is if buying a binocular microscope (which are better for examining rocks, 3D objects etc and are easier and safer to use than the backlit monocular scopes which often use glass slides and are only good for examing translucent objects) is that an adult sized one may have eye pieces too far apart for a nine year old to use comfortably
 
Tori_T said:
The Business/Office/Industrial section of ebay often has good quality second-user microscopes for sale at reasonable prices.
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thats a good call but one thing to watch out for is that adult binocular microscopes are often too big for a kid to use comfortably, although that said schools often clear their equipment as well... there used to be a place in derbyshire that specialised in school equipment clearance, I can't remember where exactly is was but @RobertP may remember because a lot of people from the woodwork forum we were both members of at that time got a shedload of old science bench tops from them.
 
Start photographing in film, get a darkroom set up and start making your own chemicals.... Science in action!
 
The Science Museum has a reasonable range of experiments, here. It might be worth trying to find reviews on something like Amazon for individual kits though as some of them are disappointing (much cheaper on Amazon too).

I bought one of the daughter's a chemistry set a couple of years back (not Science Museum) and it was an abomination of a thing compared to what I had when I was a kid. Hamstrung by health and safety I don't think there was even a burner in it let alone magnesium ribbon and other things that could cause mild burns and explosions.
 
Lets face it, forget the xbox, when you where a kid they made the best science kits ever!...
atomic-energy-lab.jpg
 
I used to have chemistry sets, which were 'augmented' by trips to the chemist. No way could you buy half the stuff now as an adult that I could get as a 10 year old kid over the counter.

The question about which aspect of science is a good one. There was a USB-connected microscope around a couple of years ago that might still be available. Electronics outfits can be fun too, and if you have any guitarists in the family then there are quite a few people that make effects pedals and even small amplifier kits that they might consider buying so that he can assemble it for them.

Biological sciences stuff is a bit more difficult, mostly because it's less exciting. There may also be chemistry sets available, though I doubt they'll do anything that classically 'fun' (i.e. smells or explodes).
 
ancient_mariner said:
I used to have chemistry sets, which were 'augmented' by trips to the chemist. No way could you buy half the stuff now as an adult that I could get as a 10 year old kid over the counter.
).
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Ditto , my mum was a chemistry and physics teacher so my home chemistry set was another 'augmented' effort. - although that said my fondest memory of home science is bending glass tubing with my spirit burner - I made allsorts of extra apparatus, including a distillation column (I'm sure we can all imagine what a teenager used that for), and also made various other more artistic but less useful arrangements - like glass lovehearts for young ladies in whom I had a 'romantic' interest. ( I only burnt myself occasionally , but I suspect elf n safety would have a duckfit these days)

I wouldn't agree that biology is less interesting though , in my experience (as a countryside ranger) kids are enthralled when they find out that a great diving beetle breathes through it bum , or the first time they grow something from scratch and then eat it (or serve it to parents), or if they raise a caterpillar and then release it as a butterfly, or hear a bat on a bat detector they've put together themselves , or make a flower press - loads of stuff.
 
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Electronic microscopes are very good these days and have a good price range. Also very easy to use.

Kits are all well and good but are either too simplistic or expensive and would estimate that many are never finished or small components lost,

Christmas should be a fun time where he can be up and running with the minimum os fessing.

Bought a kit of castings for a twin steam engine once and it took me 10 months to finish...... Then there was the boiler........

Col
 
big soft moose said:
Ditto , my mum was a chemistry and physics teacher so my home chemistry set was another 'augmented' effort. - although that said my fondest memory of home science is bending glass tubing with my spirit burner - I made allsorts of extra apparatus, including a distillation column (I'm sure we can all imagine what a teenager used that for), and also made various other more artistic but less useful arrangements - like glass lovehearts for young ladies in whom I had a 'romantic' interest. ( I only burnt myself occasionally , but I suspect elf n safety would have a duckfit these days)

I wouldn't agree that biology is less interesting though , in my experience (as a countryside ranger) kids are enthralled when they find out that a great diving beetle breathes through it bum , or the first time they grow something from scratch and then eat it (or serve it to parents), or if they raise a caterpillar and then release it as a butterfly, or hear a bat on a bat detector they've put together themselves , or make a flower press - loads of stuff.
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I ended up with a career in (biological) sciences - make of that what you will. ;) But as a boy, explosions and smells were going to draw my interest a great deal more than growing cress for sandwiches. (I'm grinning writing that!) I guess I did see quite a lot of the other side you mention, but never associated it with science because it was nature. I also recall engraving various messages into glass microscope slides to the object of my affections* at the time - fruitlessly, since she was interested in someone else. :p

*Lucky escape - I married someone else. Girls who accept romantic glassware are probably not a good bet as a life partner. :)
 
A few years back, I bought a reasonable microscope from Lidl (of all places!). Nice wooden case, good solid feel, camera that drops into the eyepiece slot. About £30 IIRC. Bresser brand.
 
If you do get a microscope, don't get fooled by the x1000 magnification pieces o c***. They are the equivalent of the 20 quid, 600mm Tele lenses on eBay. A well made scope wth something like a x5, x10 and x20 or x40 objectives and a x5 or max x10 eyepiece will be good. Stereo is a useful extra since it minimises eye strain and if you can get an "inspection microscope" it will have more travel on the focussing stand. Then you can look at the surface of bigger objects.
 
Thanks for the replies again everyone. I thought I'd come back and update this thread.
I ended up buying a microscope for him....from eBay

.View attachment 2945

I plumped for this over a brand new one elsewhere like Brian says. Quality. I knew the ones that promise gazillion times magnification from China would be cheap, plastic and crap, so I got this second hand. The seller had bought it for his son to get him interested in science but he wasn't bothered, so was selling it on.

Gave it to him for Christmas and he loves it. It only came with a few blank slides and a blue disc, I assume for the light.
We've looked at *some* stuff, dust, onion skin etc.
The clarity at the highest magnification (using the x40 objective) isn't the clearest, but that's down to the DOF of the objects we've been looking at.
I also can't use a slide on top at this magnification because I just can't get it in focus. I think I need specific top-slides for this? (They're thinner aren't they?)

I've told him I'll get him some pre-prepared slides and some other stuff like dyes etc. No idea what to get, but it's a start!

What other really cool things can we look at to keep him hooked?
He wants to look at a bogie :LOL: I said yes, that's actually a really good idea!
But later in the week, and we're not using the slide afterwards :D
 
You can pick up boxes of slides from eBay, some of them ex laboratory and some made specifically for schools with info on what they are and what magnification etc you'll need. Will stick some links up later on when I find some.
 
It was a long time ago now but I think at a similar age getting water out of a pond and looking at that was pretty interesting
 
Ooooh thanks for that. I'll take a look at those :)
 
Marcel said:
What other really cool things can we look at to keep him hooked?
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I find the microstructure of materials more interesting to look at, although you might struggle getting bits of metal or ceramic underneath the optics.
 
That has been a bit of a challenge when looking at things we find around the house. They have to be ultrathin or the highest magnification objective is too long to fit 'over' it and keep it in focus.
 
40x is about the highest you'll get before you need to use oil immersion - you should be able to see bacterial clumps at that magnification and the dyes you need to stain them are pretty basic and you should be able to buy them online.




Marcel said:
I plumped for this over a brand new one elsewhere like Brian says. Quality. I knew the ones that promise gazillion times magnification from China would be cheap, plastic and crap, so I got this second hand. The seller had bought it for his son to get him interested in science but he wasn't bothered, so was selling it on.

Gave it to him for Christmas and he loves it. It only came with a few blank slides and a blue disc, I assume for the light.
We've looked at *some* stuff, dust, onion skin etc.
The clarity at the highest magnification (using the x40 objective) isn't the clearest, but that's down to the DOF of the objects we've been looking at.
I also can't use a slide on top at this magnification because I just can't get it in focus. I think I need specific top-slides for this? (They're thinner aren't they?)

I've told him I'll get him some pre-prepared slides and some other stuff like dyes etc. No idea what to get, but it's a start!

What other really cool things can we look at to keep him hooked?
He wants to look at a bogie :LOL: I said yes, that's actually a really good idea!
But later in the week, and we're not using the slide afterwards :D
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Cheers POAH. I've ordered a set of a few pre-prepared slides already....
You mention basic dyes required...where would I find information as to what I need? What dyes etc and what dyes for what substance?
 
Marcel said:
Cheers POAH. I've ordered a set of a few pre-prepared slides already....
You mention basic dyes required...where would I find information as to what I need? What dyes etc and what dyes for what substance?
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for staining bacteria there are a number of stains to identify various strains - the simplest one is a gram stain

but obviously you need to be able to get bacteria to stain (don't brush your teeth for a day and scrape the plaque off them ;) )


http://www.ask.com/answers/34406621/how-can-i-do-a-gram-stain-with-home-materials

http://www.hometrainingtools.com/gram-stain-antibiotics-project/a/1303/

an American site but you should be able to search for things in the UK


you can do other basic science at home as well like prepare DNA from kiwi fruit
 
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A gyroscope...cheap science that will challenge his thoughts about gravity
 
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