Customer Reviews

Elenco Slide Making Kit

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Ahhhh, we have a microscope, my granddaughter loves our time together using this. She is six.
One day while looking at the pollen from a tulip...she said.." This must be another world...like Alabama ! Her good friend from school had just moved to Alabama and because she was trying to grasp and deal with the idea of her friend being gone ..."as far away as the moon" it may has well have been to "infinity and beyond".....in her mind.
We have used the kits I ordered and bought at a speciality store. Looked at everything from our hair to MY blood and it is magic for me, as well as "SHE" !
Please when you buy a child a gift like this......realize that things must be enjoyed together and with supervision. You can't just hand something over and expect them to learn on their own until they are ready. So if you don't have the time...(((( your loss )))) don't waste your money until they are older and don't wish to share "anything with you"
They dye is toxic...younger kids need supervision. Try the dye on onion skins or fibers it makes the detail much better. I bought her the duo scope...look at my reviews on the other "thing" that looks like a computer screen. DO NOT BUY...it is awfulllllllllllll ! Willow

Let me start out by saying this is a decent beginners kit. There are more complete kits on amazon, but they are twice the price and not available on prime. If you don't mind paying 10 dollars for shipping and 40 dollars for your kit, there are better options around. I was looking for something to get us started and this does do that, but I'll need to do some more shopping, and parts of the kit aren't going to last long. This kit does NOT contain a blade or a needle, although the box does warn "This toy contains functional sharp needle, also functional sharp edge on scalpel and slicer" so that's a bit confusing. If you are going to prepare many slides, you'll need a blade and needle. It also doesn't come with gum media if you want to make permanent slides, so I'd classify this as a temporary slide making kit.

It comes with 10 blank slides, which isn't a ton, so be prepared to have to buy more slides if you want to make permanent slides, but it's pretty decent if you're making temporary slides and rewashing. It's got two prepared slides (we have grasshopper parts and textiles), 12 blank labels (not that important for temporary slides, in my opinion), 12 glass covers, 12 Statical slide covers, a small plastic magnifying glass, 2 collecting vials, 2 graduated cylinders, a vial of shrimp eggs (these are readily available at aquarium stores), a vial of eosin, a vial of methylene blue (dye), a vial of sodium chloride (this is salt for you non chem people--and I think adding salt was a way to pad the kit and make it sound impressive but it's really a worthless addition), cheap goggles, a "micro hatchery" (for the shrimp eggs...it's a bit pointless), a stirring rod, a dropper, and a pair of plastic tweezers.

The two most worthless parts of this kit are the addition of salt and the shrip eggs/micro hatchery. Salt...I've got it on my table. I don't need it added to a microscope kit so that it can look more impressive. Same thing with the eggs (except I don't have brine shrimp on my table, ha ha). It's cool to make the brine shrimp available and suggest observing their life cycle as a project, but I was more interested in the nuts and bolts of making our own slides, not a science project kit. Same thing with the salt. I didn't need it in the kit so that I could shake it up in some water and observe. That's not what I wanted the kit for. I'd love a little more attention to slides, chemicals, and specimen collection rather than brine shrimp and salt.

Bottom line, this is a decent kit but it's more toy based. If you're looking for a quick jump start into slide making, this absolutely does that (although you will at least need a scalpel or razor blade to do this). However, if you're looking for something more comprehensive, invest in a more professional kit or research and buy your components individually. I can see this opening the door to microscope slide making, but if you spark a long term interest, this kit is going to outlive its usefulness fairly quickly.

This is a wonderful aproach to science. I still haven't figured out what all the chemicals are for, but looking at anything I can find is cool. Try preparing an onion speciman. Their cells are quite large. It is nice to be able to use the slides over again.

I purchased this item for my son as a Christmas present to accompany his new microscope. I was amazed at everything we found inside when we opened it. It is a very complete kit. I would not purchase it for a younger child, though, as I'm going to need to carefully monitor my advanced 6 year old with it. However, he is really enjoying making the slides and getting to see what things look like up close.

This is a good kit. It would be better if it included a slicer.

plastic everything, even the slides, like a dollar store product....will not buy or tell a friend to buy...very sad about it..I gave it a one, because I could not give it a big fat "O". Yes, I have had micro classes and do know what is good and what is not....

I bought this kit for my 12 yr old daughter for Christmas and she loves it. It comes with some prepared slides and plenty of slides for her to make on her own. It was a good addition to her microscope.

THIS SLIDE KIT IS GREAT FOR BEGINNERS. IT COMES WITH A FEW PREPARED SLIDES AS WELL AS THE ONES KIDS CAN MAKE FOR THERE SELF AND THE PRICE IS GOOD. COMES WITH EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO GET STARTED.

My 7 year old loved this kit to go along with her brand new microscope (along with the entire family) Only thing it was missing was the glue to adhere the top plates to make permanent slides.

I got this kit for my 6 year old grand daughter because she is curious but her serroundings so I got it because I bought a top of the line microscope at a yard sale and she asked me what it was for so I told her so we could do some exploring into nature and we have been having fun sence it is a good tool to teach our young about how things work in nature I give it a thumbs up