I purchased the older version of the Lakeshore Cells Organisms Activity Tub (which features the two plastic microscopes). While the curriculum materials, cell trays, and experiment guides inside the tub are excellent and well-thought-out, the included microscopes are absolutely terrible and do not work as intended.The microscopes are made of incredibly lightweight, toy-grade plastic. It is nearly impossible for an adult to get a slide into focus, let alone a child with developing fine motor skills. We have spent more time staring at a blurry black screen than actually viewing the specimens. It defeats the entire hands-on purpose of the kit if the primary tool for the experiments is non-functional.If you buy the older version of the kit, expect to immediately throw the included microscopes in the trash and spend extra money purchasing a decent, metal-framed student microscope separately to actually complete the lessons. I would not recommend buying the older version of the kit.

We added this to our grandchildren's home school items. Looking forward to how they will use it

I have not used the entire kit yet. However, my son did start on activity one and the microscopes are garbage. As you look through the eye piece you can see a bunch of scratches and you cannot focus on the slides they sent. Luckily we have a decent microscope. I will update this review after we have done all the activities if I change my mind.

I purchased this for my then-first grader who was enamored of cells. She loved it then, and She is now in 4th grade and still loves to revisit it, create the cells from the molds, look at the slides, play with the mitosis wheel, etc. And I have recently used it to tutor a 9th grade student who was struggling with the concepts of organelles and mitosis. The hands-on experiences really helped! I will be purchasing more of these tub sets-they live up to their promise!