My 9 year old son had lots of lovely presents for Christmas including a small pocket microscope. To be honest I wasn't expecting much from this little microscope but have happily been proved wrong!

The microscope is from the Natural History museum collection and can be purchased via their web site for £8. It is also available from Amazon for just £5. The microscope comes well packaged in a colourful cardboard box with inner protective plastic holder. We have kept the box to replace the microscope when it is not in use.

The microscope is quite small measuring about 4 ½ inches in height and weighs just 132 grams. It is made of plastic and has a removable base. It feels quite well made, although probably wouldn't withstand much rough handling. It comes complete with a couple of plastic slides and covers, a cleaning cloth and instruction leaflet.

The microscope is really easy and quick to set up, a bonus when you are tying to keep younger children engaged with getting bored! The microscope has between x 20 and x40 magnification .There are ideas for objects to look at in the instruction leaflet. The microscope has a bright LED light and the batteries for this are included. We have used the microscope many times since Christmas and have not yet had to replace the batteries. However when you do the microscope takes the round small silver type (LR44). The batteries are safely contained in a screw down compartment. The light is really bright and illuminates objects well.

The microscope is easy to focus via a small wheel. We have looked at lots of different objects under the microscope and I have been amazed at how much detail can be seen and how clear the image is. It is not necessary to place objects on a slide unless they are liquid. My son was amazed at how dirty a coin was when magnified! It was also fascinating to see how much we could see on a small piece of cloth that couldn't be seen with the naked eye. We have also used the slide to look at grains of sugar and salt.

The microscope is small enough to be carried in a pocket and taken out. We often walk and this would be fun item to take with us to keep my son amused! The microscope is not recommended for children under 3. I think this is a really good microscope for children and adults alike. The only downside that I can think of is that I will to buy batteries at some stage!

Overall I can highly recommend this little gem! It is an excellent way to get children interested in the world around them and all at a very reasonable price!