Using a Microscope for our garden finds

Having a microscope has given our gardening a new perspective. We use it to take a closer look at some of the insect eggs and other interesting pieces of nature we find in the yard. It’s amazing to see life on such a small scale.

When we found these eggs in the backyard, I thought it would be cool to check them out on the microscope. You could see something moving inside.

So, we put the egg on the slide.

and before I could even line it up…it hatched.

Out popped a frog! I was so confused. I thought frogs came from tadpoles, but I guess some species, the tadpole stays in the egg.

OMAX Microscope

For under $500, we got a nice microscope that won’t be obsolete in 20 years. Although we have never used a microscope before, we got it set up pretty quickly.

The microscope plugs it into the computer with a USB cable, and the images show up on the computer’s screen, rather than having to look through the microscope – which is great for the kids. We can save pictures and videos of whatever we are looking at by simply hitting record.

We got some prepared slides (pre-loaded with different specimens of plants, insects, animals, and flowers).

I wanted to look at microorganisms in the soil, but this microscope can only see at 100x. Bacteria is so small, it needs a microscope of 400x and higher.

This microscope can see at 4x, 10x 40x, and 100x. We’ve gone as high as 40x. At 100x, you need immersion oil and I haven’t messed with all that yet, but 40x is beyond close enough for what we need.

The kids enjoy making their own microscope slides and look at bug eggs, pond water, fungus and plants.

microscope accessories worth buying for kids

slides

Prepared slides are really cool. They are labeled, plastic slides that contain specimens from animals, insects, plants, and flowers.

You will need blank slides to hold whatever it is you want to look at in the microscope. When we look at something dry like bug eggs, bugs, or leaves, we use the slide without the cover glass (thin square piece of glass).