Friday, 21 July 2017

Wild About Learning - Learning Resource My First Microscope Review and Giveaway

We were asked last month by Learning Resources if we would like to be involved with their Wild About Learning Campaign. We love getting out doors and its the perfect place to learn. How could we say no? 

I got to choose something from Learning Resources Primary Science Section and their GeoSafari Section on the website. 

It was so tricky what to choose and so I thought I would think of an activity that I could do outdoors and then looked to see what would help that activity. My activity I had in mind was going out and exploring and collecting things from nature. Learning about them as we went.

So I chose a Geo Safari Bug Viewer and a Primary Science Magnifier and Tweezers. I then spotted the Geo Safari My first Microscope and thought how good it would be to then look at all the items we found under the microscope and learn more about them. 


When they arrived they looked great and we could not wait to get started with them. 



So let me tell you a little more about each product. Lets start with the Bug Viewer. This little plastic jar encourages children to get closer to nature. With its screw top magnifying lid that magnifies at 3x the magnification its the perfect thing for children to be able to collect specimens for themselves and view it from above. The little jar comes with a plastic spider as example. It only costs £3.25 and so is great value for lots of bug learning fun.


The Magnifier Glass and Tweezers come together in one set. They are the perfect tools for your little one to start exploring the world around them. The set costs £6.50 which I think is excellent value for learning.  

The Magnifier glass is really chunky to hold which is great for little hands. It also features a built in stand for hands free observation. It has a clear 4.5x magnifier and it measures at 11cm's of viewing area. 

The tweezers are also extra chunky for small hands. They are brilliant for helping exercise fine motor skills while your child practices picking up objects. They measure at 15cm and have a special easy grip area where your fingers should be placed and extra grip to pick up your objects at the end of the tweezers. 





Then we have the My First Microscope. Perfect for children aged 3-7 years old who are just starting to learn to use equipment to aid their learning. Its chunky design makes it easy for children to use and has a non scary appearance to encourage them to want to try it out. Instead of a regular one eye piece that you normally get with a microscope, this one has 2 eye pieces which eliminates the need to close one eye. It has 8x magnification and has a large chunky knob on the side for simple focusing. It also includes a LED light which you can turn on with a button at the front. This requires 3 AAA batteries. When I saw the price of this microscope I really was shocked to see how good value for money it was. It retails at only £19.80 which I think is great to say it provides so much and is such good quality. 


That day we packed up our magnifying glass, bug tub and tweezers and decided to take them to our local park. Our local park is great and has loads of space to explore and has big tree's and plenty of plants. I knew we would find lots of interesting things there. Lily enjoyed carrying around her magnifying glass and understood that she had to hold it to her face and look through it.

We found all sorts in the park, it was mostly me finding them and then pointing them out to Lily to then look at through her magnifying glass. At first she would stand up looking down at objects but I encouraged her to bend down closer to it to look.

She then had a try with the tweezers, Lily caught on pretty quickly how to hold them and put her fingers into a pincer grip. She then learn't that she had to squeeze to be able to pick things up. But she did struggle to do it with smaller objects. She managed to pick up big things like a pine cone, but could not have the finger strength to pick up the feather. It was really good seeing her try though and something that practice will make perfect. Her strength will grow as she gets older. 



I spent ages trying to find Lily bugs and all I found was some spiders. I must admit I am not a big fan of spiders and neither is Lily. I did man up thought and did try and catch her a few big black spiders I found by the water. I failed though as I think I was to wimpy to actually catch them. For ages after I didn't find anything and then a teeny tiny spider crawled onto my bag. Lily spotted it with her eagle eyes and so we got it to crawl into the bug tub. The tubs lid is really easy to screw on and off which is great as a lot of bugs are fast. I handed it to Lily so she could have a good look through the top of it. She was really interested in watching it crawl around in there and the magnifying lid did make it look a lot bigger than it was. 



After we had collected everything we headed inside to take a look at what we had found and place it under the microscope. We had collected a really nice range of things that would all look different under it. We had some bark from a tree, some pine cones, leafs, petals, a feather, a stick and a some seeds from tree's. 


Lily understood that she had to put the items under the microscope and also that she could turn the knob to move it up and down. I don't quite think she understands focusing yet though and I also had to remind her to move the microscope up for bigger items. When she looked through at the items she would say "I see it". Lily placed each one under the microscope. She is a little young to start describing objects to me but she knew that it got bigger as the item went underneath and said to me "its bigger". She would look down with her 2 eyes and found it quite easy to turn the knob all by herself. 
After we had been through all the objects. She decided that she wanted to do it all over again and this time did it all by herself while I sat back and watched. 




Our second trip out to collect things was while we were on holiday in Weymouth. We headed to Chesil Beach and so we took our magnifying glass and tweezers with us to see what we could find. We mostly found a lot of interesting looking stones and a interesting looking shell. But the items were way to big to pick up with the tweezers. But the magnifying glass was perfect to look at the stones with as most of the stones all had sparkling crystals inside and so we could then see them in real detail. We also at this time propped up the magnifying glass and placed a stone under it to look. It stands really sturdy and doesn't fall down which is great.



We also took the bug tub incase we found any seaside critters. But we didn't unfortunately. But Lily did find a piece of wood that she decided she wanted to put inside to have a look at. The bug tub works really well for other things as well as bugs.


When we got home from Weymouth, I got the microscope back out so we could have a look at the things we found. We brought home with us some different shaped rocks and shells. Some which looked like they had fossils in them and also the ones with the crystals in. Lily remember exactly what to do with the microscope and got straight to it. Again telling me that it got bigger when she looked through.



We are so happy with this set of learning resources. I can see them being something we will use for years to come and I love that I now own items that are really going to help Lily learn more about the outdoors and science. If you are looking for some toys that are great fun but also really help your child learn then I can 100% recommend these to you. This set sure has made us go Wild About Learning! 

Head to the Learning Resource Website to see more toys to help your child learn. 

If you are eager to get your little one learning then you may want to enter this competition to win the entire Wild About Learning Set. That includes the My First Microscope, The Magnifying Glass and Tweezer Set and the Bug Viewing Tub.

For your chance to win, Enter on the Gleam App Below. 


Win a Set of Wild About Learning Toys Inc a Kids Micrscope

127 comments:

  1. Perfect for Ethan
    Forgot what the question was you asked!sorry

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  2. In the back garden, we always do little minibeast hunts back there

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  3. Spencer Broadley22 July 2017 at 10:54

    We have a great wood round our local lake - good for a picnic as well

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  4. Has to be the garden or the woods, could find some great stuff to look at in either place

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  5. Down on our local beach - in the rock pools!

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  6. Our garden or the woods.

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  7. Round the rock pools here in Staithes.

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  8. On the local beach at Saltburn.

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  9. Ashleigh Allan22 July 2017 at 15:50

    Down the beach

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  10. how fab! we would deffo look at shells and stones

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  11. At the local beach

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  12. Park and beach.

    Rachel Craig

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  13. Our garden would be a great place to use the microscope - lots of plants, flowers and insects and bugs

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  14. In the fields and nature reserve near where we live.

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  15. The back garden firstly but I think the beach is a great idea!

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  16. We have a great muddy pond next to our house, that would be just perfect for bug hunting.

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  17. We would hunt in the local forest, my son would love this.

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  18. Marston Vale Country Park which we live very close to

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  19. The local wood near the Gorge. :)

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  20. We would explore the woodland area we have at the back of our house, we already catch frogs and spiders so this would be absolutely perfect for my kids to learn more about the things we pick

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  21. In our garden. We're pretty rural, so there are lots of interesting bugs and plants to discover!

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  22. in my nettles it's full of inscets

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  23. in our local park and our garden

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  24. this is a wonderful idea to learn more about things we find both indoors and outdoors. You could look as so many things. I think it would be fun exploring the kitchen cupboards on a rainy day.

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  25. Under the big rocks in our garden!

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  26. carolyn heyworth23 July 2017 at 13:18

    In the backyard, full of wildlife out there !

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  27. In the garden one of my daughters favourite things to do is bug hunting!

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  28. Where we go rock hopping, White Coppice

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  29. we would hunt over Cannock Chase, we love walks over there at the weekends

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  30. We would be putting this to some good use in the garden. The little one love to hunt for woodlice, beetles and other crawlies.
    She is determined to start a woodlouse circus

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  31. In the compost heap

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  32. we do lots of walks on the north york moors, jamie would love to use it there, hes bug mad, but hates spiders

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  33. the garden will be a treasure trove, we have a pond and wild areas to encourage wildlife.

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  34. In the woodlands behind us! Would love this

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  35. in the woods or maybe on the beach whilst we are on holiday

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  36. Where would you hunt for items to use with the Microscope? we would start in the garden and may the beach next

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  37. This looks awesome! We'd start in the garden then move on to the park. :)

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  38. All the creepy crawlies from our local wood would be worried about being captured.

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  39. In our garden, we were out pulling up weeds yesterday and Millie was fascinated by all of our findings.

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  40. We have just moved house and have a huge garden for the first time ever! we have seen lots of interesting bugs outside

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  41. Along a lake in Hampton where we live.

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  42. When we go to my dad's he has a pond which is perfect

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  43. In the fields near our house

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  44. We'd take a walk down the cycle track to the aqueduct xx

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  45. We would take it to the National Trust with us as there are 6 or 7 different ones nearby :)

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  46. My daughter megan would love a set like this, she has a tub she collects caterpillars and ants in, (not together) she loves watching them and always puts them back when she is finished xxx

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  47. We would hunt in the garden - this is a lovely prize

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  48. We have a small rockery in the back garden. There's plenty to see in there.

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  49. creepy crawlies on the garden

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  50. My nieces are absolutely crazy about the outdoors and being outside. It's their favourite thing to muck about in trees and discover new insects ! Complete Tomboys lol :) they'd love this. Great prize xo
    Msg from Aysha Suleman @Ms_Zircon

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  51. We would look in the garden and down by the river, lots of interesting bugs down there.

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  52. How wonderful to start children looking through microscopes so young. I would hunt in the garden or the shed.

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  53. my boys would search for bugs and caterpillars

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  54. In our back garden

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  55. We would hunt down by the beach for shells and interesting shells to look at.

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  56. We'd hunt for bits in the garden

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  57. We would look for lots of bugs in the park :)

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  58. We're lucky enough to live near woods which would be perfect for hunting for objects to study under the microscope.

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  59. Awwww fantastic. I've been looking for something has fantastic has this for my bug obsessed 3 yo

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  60. In the fields near our house @bexallum on twitter

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  61. Oh lots of places our garden, local forests and beaches :)

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  62. Definitely rock pools to see what was living in the water and perhaps in the soil to see if we could find some ants or other creepy crawlies.

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  63. My Grandson lives in a little village in the countryside and loves nature. Everything is on his doorstep so I would give this to him so he could have fun exploring for different things to study

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  64. My son would take it to our local park xx

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  65. In the rockpools on our local beach

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  66. In the garden, woods, park and beach!

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  67. We back onto a big fishing pond and fields, a great place to hunt for microscope 🔬 goodies!

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  68. In my back garden. My granddaughter is always finding bugs amongst the flowers & veg.

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  69. I think it would have to be in the back garden and at the park too.

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  70. We would love to go to Chesil beach and collect fossils to examine.

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  71. Our local beach would be great for finding things.

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  72. We would go beach combing

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  73. in our garden and local park x

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  74. At the beach, park and our garden x

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  75. In our garden as our little girl loves laydbirds at the moment!

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  76. We would hunt in our garden including our pond.

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  77. I'd hunt in my daughter's bedroom - see how clean she has been keeping it lol

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  78. were lucky enough to live in the meon valley so lots of open countryside right across the road from my house x

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  79. Would go to our big local park and my son find a selection of items and probably a couple of insects :-)

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  80. I think we could find many things on one of our excursions to the local parks and forests.

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  81. In our back garden and the forest behind nanny's house x

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  82. We would love to hunt for things to look at under the microscope in our garden, local woods and the beautiful beach we have just on our doorstep!

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  83. In our local park

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  84. In our garden. My son already enjoys looking under the plant pots to see what he can find!

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  85. A place called poppy woods where there is a lot of wildlife ✊

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  86. the woods near us when we walk the dog the stream park

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  87. great for days out anywhere and everywhere

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  88. I'd probably start off in our garden first xxx

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  89. We'd go to the beach to search for tiny shells to look at.

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  90. I'd hunt in the back garden and at the forest

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  91. We'd hunt for shells on the beach and also wild flowers

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  92. In the back garden - slithering and slimeys

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  93. i would head into the woods to hunt for treasures with my two boys looking at the different tree barks and leaves

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  94. At the park so many things to find!

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  95. I would go to a country park to look for bugs

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  96. We live near a beach, so that would be an ideal hunting spot.

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  97. Down the rock pool in Brighton :) Near our house :)

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  98. The park, Forest and beach x x x

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