Bresser Junior 40-640x Microscope

The Bresser Junior is a first microscope for a child, built to be simple to use. It's a compound microscope, so it looks through thin, see-through samples on a slide, such as onion skin, a fly's wing or a drop of pond water. Three objectives on a turret and a sliding eyepiece that switches between 10x and 16x give 40x to 640x without swapping any parts, so there's no spare eyepiece to lose.

The light sits under the stage and shines up through the slide, with a brightness control for thicker samples. It runs on three AA batteries, which are in the box, so it works at the kitchen table or out in the garden with no cable. The body is light plastic, the round stage has clips to hold the slide still, and focus is a single knob.

Bresser includes an experiment kit with three prepared slides, eight blank slides with cover slips and labels, a brine shrimp hatchery with eggs and yeast, a small microtome for cutting thin sections, forceps, a dropper and a magnifying loupe. The light comes from below only, so it won't show a coin or a stone; the Biolux SEL adds a light above the stage as well. Available in blue.