The best toy for Christmas. We do Christmas at Thanksgiving for out of state family. The boys loved it. Hope you have more slides for future excitement

Really cool little toy - as others have clarified, not an actual functioning microscope, but great for younger kids to be able to "play" microscope and learn about how they can see things on little slides as if they were on a microscope. I had a real microscope when I was very little and remember being somewhat disappointed that I couldn't see incredible things I had imagined from picking up dirt outside (the coolest thing was my hair and that got old after a while) so this is actually a neat way to give kids access to a whole bunch of interesting things to look at on a slide without needing to prepare them the way an older child might be able to do.

Knowing that it is a toy and not a functioning microscope, my only knock on it is that there doesn't seem to be an expansion pack for the talking slides (at least not one that I could find on Amazon) so there is a finite amount of play with this toy as you can't expand the slides or make your own either. Still, if it's just used for pretend after that point, instead of "learning" it's still a lot of fun.

Although this a 5 star, it is different then what I expected, but better, and smarter for young children.
The 2, 3, and 4 yr. love this learning toy. Keeps them buzy, and they have learned allot.

We have messed around with microscopes before trying to find dead bugs ect. to put on the glass slide .
No more do you have to do that for young children.
This comes with bugs ect. pictures on the slides, 3 pictures on each Plastic slide. There is a little slide drawer with all the pictures on them.
That Keeps this neat and organized .
Tell the kids, Do NOT put there little fingers on the slides or they will smudge them. Hold the plastic slides on the side edge.

No more having young children to focus there one eyes. The Kiddos can see out of both eyes. Focusing magnifier is 5X.
You need 3 AAA batteries, press ON, and Bindi Irwin ( her father was the Crocodile hunter) will tell you All about the bugs, animals
Your child is looking at.
There is a fact button, answer button, even a Quiz button, and sound can be adjusted.

All the kiddos Love this learning toy.
This also makes a very good Birthday day present, Xmas, or just getting the young kids a very good educational learning toy.
I recommend this Talking Microscope .

Let's get one thing clear. This is a toy, or pretend, microscope. The 'prepared' slides are photos of stuff from real microscopes. It's not for looking at stuff your kid has found in the garden or wherever. However, that said and understood, this is a cool plaything that's enjoyed by both our three and five year olds. You can select audio facts, and everybody likes facts about spiders and blood and ants, or you can select an audio quiz to automatically play for each slide. Works like a charm keeping the pre-reading crowd interested in STEM.

Construction is top notch, completely kid safe. Needs 3 AAA batteries that are not supplied. Slides a bit fiddly to put in, as they have to signal the 'microscope' what audio to play, but after a few tries we got it to work pretty good. Perfect for a three or four-yr-old. Older kids may get more value out of a kid-safe microscope that lets them look at stuff they find, and is half the cost of this one (Educational Insights GeoSafari Jr. My First Microscope), but then you do miss out on the audio facts and quiz. Anyway, either one is better than iPad"‹ time! Hope this review helps a bit.

My three children have really enjoyed this microscope. My three and five year old have played with it over and over until they know a lot of the facts. My three year old has tried putting other items on it- while it does magnify them a bit, it is not much more than using a magnifying glass. My eight year old enjoyed it for a few minutes- long enough to go through all the slides- then lost interest in it. I think it is best for younger children. I hope they will add additional slides, they would love to have more.