- Get a $5 bill and look at the back. Just above the pillars on the Lincoln Memorial you should see the names of some states. How many can you read? Take a $1 bill and see what other interesting items you can find on it with the microscope. Coins and stamps are other fun items to view.
- Samples of fabric can be fun to compare. A plain weave looks like a simple cross pattern, while a twill weave (try blue jeans) or a pile weave (corduroy) will look different.
- Sand samples from different beaches or a river bed. Try viewing them with bottom illumination, then put the sand on a black piece of paper and view it with only the top illumination.
Sand under the microscope.
- If you leave a small pan of water outside in the summer, you may end up with mosquitoes laying eggs in it. Once the eggs hatch, look closely for tiny wigglers - these are mosquito larvae. You can collect one and put it on a depression slide to view under the microscope.
- Look for some other small insects - you might find a dead spider in a window frame, or an ant outside in the yard. Caterpillars are also great fun to watch under the microscope! When you are done - put your insects back outside so they can live in nature.
- Take a color page from a magazine - can you see the dots of different colored ink that make up the photo? You can also try this with a newspaper.
- Look at the center of a flower. Can you locate the stamen and the pollen?
- Interesting rocks, especially those with multiple colors in them are fascinating to view under the microscope.