One of my beloved grand girls is just crazy about all things science. She just can't get enough of the stuff. She constantly wants to know how things work and grow. I was so thrilled when the Science X Smartscope arrived so we could explore the amazing world of microscopics together.
The Science X Smartscope is designed to be used with any smartphone or tablet. It uses the camera function so no other app is required! I have to say that I was thrilled by that because I need another app on my phone like I need another hole in my head.
The Smartscope comes disassembled but we managed to put it together in no time at all. The only extras that it needed were 3 AAA batteries.
Getting started is as easy as collecting microscopic samples. Things like water drops from different sources, bugs, leaves, flowers, etc. I must give a shout out to Ravensburger for including the following note on the box: Only use creatures that are already dead when found.
Yes! Yes! Yes! I may have said, "Sorry baby we can't use that creepy crawly thing because it's not dead. It says so right here." Dead bugs I can handle live crawling ones . . . not so much!
After you collect your microscopics and put them on slides you're ready to turn on the camera app on your smartphone or tablet. We thought that it was easy to line up the camera lens. With a few adjustments we were able to maneuver things pretty easily. One of the nice additions is the light source. This really helps with things like water or other items that have very small objects.
Not only was my grand girl impressed but I was too. I thought this would be fun but I wasn't expecting it to be as detailed and able to capture such tiny aspects of the subject. (The Smartscope is plastic after all.) The only draw back was in the way my phone works. We had to remember to touch the screen every little bit so it wouldn't go black.
I know this is probably a foregone conclusion but since you are using your phone's camera you can actually take pictures of your microscopics. Ours turned out amazing. We were all completely in awe of how detailed the different specimens were. According to some of the other things we have read we can also send these images to our big screen TV via our Google Chromecast. (Other ways are available too, that's just what we already have.)
If you've got a curious kiddo in your house the Science X Smartscope is a great investment. It's lightweight and has a travel pouch so you can take it along with you as you go out exploring nature. We plan on taking it to our local Nature Center soon.
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