I may or may not be a bigger fan of the GeoSafari Talking Microscope than my daughter is, but that doesn’t mean she dislikes it. I just really, really think it’s cool. It’s so educational, but fun. She enjoys looking at the slides and hearing what it says about each one, but it is kind of tricky for little hands to use.
The toy is recommended for ages five and up, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to try going any younger than that. The information from each slide held my daughter’s attention at around 3.5, but it was too difficult for her to operate on her own so she got a little frustrated at that age. The slides have to be inserted in a specific way and then a three-letter code needs to be entered in order to get the corresponding information.
I can see a child a little older than mine being able to spend a lot of time going through the twelve slides and absorbing the information presented on each one or answering the quiz questions. The tidbits of information are easy to digest, and looking at the images on the slides at the same time really makes things easier to understand.
In case your kids are a tad bit rough on their toys, don’t worry too much about this one. While it’s not indestructible at all, it’s still more durable than it looks, in my opinion. No broken slides yet, and I was worried when my husband brought it home.
Photo credit: HobbyTown USA
