Specimens for a child's microscope?

[bungeejumper]

My seven year old granddaughter is getting a simple microscope for Christmas. Nothing super-powerful, just 40x magnification, but I think she'll get some fun from it, and if she's interested enough we might get something more serious in due course. So now I'm assembling a little package of things for her to look at. Feathers, ferns and a five pound note are already in the box. What else would you recommend?

TIA

BJ

[IsleofWightPete]

(Dead) housefly, human hair, bit of newsprint, piece of wool, honeycomb (like centre of crunchie or malteser), bread.............

[gryffron]

Water from the garden pond. Amazing how "alive" a few drops of water can be.

Gryff

[DiamondEcho]

The wing of a moth or butterfly.
A fly, the eyes are amazing, but then so is most of it. Similarly a mosquito or gnat; or their larvae from a pond or water-butt.
When you use an onion, esp if it's been around a while, you can sometimes find gossamer thin layers separating the layers. Ultra-thin fresh layers, not the outer brown/dry ones. They're interesting too.
Human hair, and then compare it to the hair from a horse or cow.
40* you say, wow lucky her that sounds brilliant.
ps I'm sure you could find suggestions also within the Biology curriculum for when youngsters are introduced to the 1.01 of microscope use. The latter is presumably pitched to make an engaging impact for the lowest effort/cost.

[FarmerTom]

Sugar and salt crystals, maybe Epsom Salts too.

[PrincessB]

I realise this might be considered a bit of a cheat but you can buy prepared microscope slides from the like of e-bay for about £7.

I searched Google using the term 'prepared microscope slides uk' and came up with a decent selection.

Incidentally, human blood cells are quite large as are the cells in a thin layer of onion.

Regards,

B.

[FarmerTom]

Onion, of course, good idea; and better when stained.
Did we use Eoisin dye at school? food colouring should be good enough and safer for a young 'un.

[redsturgeon]

Seaside sand is supposed to be quite interesting.

John

[NomoneyNohoney]

I vaguely remember that scraping your teeth with a fingernail and then examining the scrapings is interesting

[redsturgeon]

I vaguely remember that scraping your teeth with a fingernail and then examining the scrapings is interesting

It can be very interesting but you need phase contrast lighting and more than X40.

John

[PinkDalek]

Has anyone suggested a sliced Lemon?

[Breelander]

Onion, of course, good idea; and better when stained.
Did we use Eoisin dye at school? food colouring should be good enough and safer for a young 'un.

It's Iodine for the onion skins. Food colouring just stains everything the same colour, you want a stain that's selective. Iodine turns just the starch blue, which is why it's so good on the onion skin cells. More ideas here...
Microscopy Stains You Can Make at Home

[melonfool]

I used to stab my finger with a compass and look at the blood through mine.

And dried petals.

Mel

[bungeejumper]

Brilliant ideas! Thanks everyone. Right, that's my next couple of days sorted, then....

Thanks again

BJ

[DiamondEcho]

I used to stab my finger with a compass and look at the blood through mine.
And dried petals. Mel

Oh ok Petals + Blood - Very emo/goth-rock there