Educational Insights Nancy B's Reflections Kaleidoscope

This worked great! I’m not sure what the disappointed people expected but this was exactly what I hoped it would be. I mean this is a plastic kaleidoscope filled with natural items, not a $300 art kaleidoscope filled with Murano glass. We put in some colorful flowers and berries and tiny leaves we found at the park. We had fun hunting for the items to include. We haven’t even started with the experiments in the book yet but I’m very happy with the initial results. My kids are 3, 5, and 8. Also I agree with other reviewers who said it’s best viewed looking straight up.

I love the educational material and ability to add our own material, plus it was easy to put together. However, the mirrors are placed to tightly so the levers to adjust the mirrors doesn't work well once we added the 3rd mirror.... you have to be pretty forceful turning them- which doesn't work for a kid product. Well see hopefully it gets better

You need boy color options

This kaleidoscope is the fancier version of the simpler ones made of cardboard and glass from my childhood. They had some broken colored glass bits in them and they created fascinating shapes and designs. I've always loved them and thought this would make a great gift for a creative child.It comes with a chamber where you can add the provided beads and little objects or add your own to view. There is also a vertical mirror strip (made of shiny plastic) that can be inserted in the kaleidoscope to complete the triangle and make more complex shapes.This kaleidoscope comes with 2 adjustable mirrors already inside the cylindrical chamber that can be adjusted to angles between 15 degrees to 45 degrees by dialing the degrees by turning the purple rings on the cylinder near the viewing piece. Given the mirror position the shapes will be different and then they can be turned to another angle to see slightly different shapes.One can put as many or as few beads in the chamber to create designs. I found that typically lying down and pointing the kaleidoscope at a white or plain ceiling made the beads move to the center and it was easier to view the designs. The included journal is a great addition as it tells kids how kaleidoscopes work and how positioning the mirrors inside at different angles through the rings makes different designs. There are also more activities in the journal that kids can try. I think that for budding artists it is a great tool to see new designs and even try to create them on paper or draw them on an iPad. Or a kid can simply experiment by putting different things into the chamber. The chamber can also be removed to view nature or any scenery as it creates a mirrored effect that makes it fun. A great educational and fun tool, that any kid with a creative mind will enjoy.

The kaleidoscope is cool, and unlike some people who can't adjust the angles, they adjust really, really easily on ours. And the angles do make a huge difference. You can add a third mirror in it as well and then you don't have the ability to adjust the other two mirrors. We liked it best without that.There is a small circular cup with a screw on lid that you put the parts into, that then just snaps into place on the end. You can fill it with various things, and it works well. Water works, but I liked the results better with a thicker substance, so we did some oil. Messier to clean out afterwards but looked cool and things didn't move as fast, which made for a more enjoyable view.But the book was the best. It didn't do much for my son who's a little old, but this would be awesome for younger kids. It gets into several experiments, and a lot of information about angles, reflection, bilateral symmetry, etc... I'd say to get this for the book even more so than the kaleidoscope.

This is a good, affordable kaleidoscope for kids, that goes beyond simple pretty designs and tries to get at the science behind it. Instead of just being a one-trick pony like most of them, this one allows kids to tinker with the details. How many mirrors? How much stuff in the chamber? What goes in the chamber? Water, or no water? How does it work, anyway? Kids can change all kinds of features, and there’s an included book to help explain what’s going on. It’s a simple and fun way to learn about optics and see pretty designs all at the same time. Kids who care about science might really enjoy the journal, and kids who just appreciate the artistic beauty can ignore the science and just have fun making lovely designs. It’s not going to be a toy with long-term playability, but for a birthday gift or similar small present, it’s a great choice.

I like the concept of this Kaleidoscope, and my son did also who is nine. You assemble the scope and then you can put the beads in that are provided or you can add your own stuff like little rocks or leaves. Then you look up to see them as you turn the scope around. You can adjust the mirrors inside to make the items appear as different looking. This also comes with a journal to track what you put into this thing and what you see and offers activities to try. I like that this incorporates writing and science and even fine motor skills. I do not like that it is not as pretty to look at inside as a regular Kaleidoscope and that you have to look straight up in the air rather than just toward light or white walls. You do not see the vibrant colors you normally see and the scope itself is just a plastic scope that feels fragile. I would recommend for the science and learning but not for the Kaleidascope's capability.

This SEEMS like a cool idea, but in practice, this activity was kind of meh for my kids. The Kaleidoscope itself is kind of cheap and not a great Kaleidoscope. Which might be okay if, then, the activities or putting it together was fun or interesting, but putting it together and the activities were also not interesting or impressive to our kids and then in the end when also the Kaleidoscope wasn't that great, overall our sense was, "Oh." They played with it a little bit, but it is a little fragile and doesn't work as well as you might want it to. Overall, I'd probably pass on this. It was okay but not really worth it. It might be something fun for kids to do in a science class for a day, but for "fun" at home it was a hard sell.

Broken while putting it together.Don’t waste money. Trashed it after 1 day.

Lo compré para regalo de una niña de 8 años y quedó encantada. El material es bueno y las piezas se desmontan fácilmente pero una vez armado queda sólido. El material es bastante resistente

When I was of an age for such things, a cheap kaleidoscope was a staple of Christmas stockings. They were fun, but very limited in what they did – you held them up to your eye, turned the barrel, and as the beads inside tumbled over each other the colourful pattern at the end of the tube went through infinite changes of colour and shape.To be honest, the total amount of use between one Christmas and another could only have been a few minutes.This kaleidoscope is better made, has a lot more flexibility in use – you can change the angles of the mirrors, selectively change what is in the viewing chamber, and even go out looking for all manner of things – ranging from autumn leaves, through breakfast cereal, to new pennies – that can be put in the viewing chamber. And it comes with an activity book that offers a lot of information on angles of reflection, symmetry, tessellation and more; quite a lot more. There is space too for writing-up your findings in a way that introduces the conventions of scientific research and reporting.That last feature is important to the more serious purpose behind this ‘toy’, which is to get young people started on the road to an understanding of science, possibly a career in science, and certainly a deeper knowledge and all the satisfaction and plain fun that goes with that.It is actually aimed primarily at girls. ‘Nancy B’ tells us how she found her passion for science; she tells us about Elizabeth Farrara of the University of Maryland, who spends her days studying gamma rays; and the pictures on the box are exclusively of girls.Well, that’s a change, a change is as good as a rest, and I don’t see why boys should be put off. Girl or boy, a lively, enquiring mind should soon get absorbed in the discovery that, for instance, the way light is reflected off a mirror has things in common with the way in which a ball bounces off a wall. Et cetera!The children I have in mind for this (one of them is a boy!) are still younger than the age range on the box (8+), so I will be starting gently with the pretty patterns, and helping them find interesting things to put in the viewing chamber, leaving the measurement of angles and writing-up of experiments for later.

If I think back to my youth, my kaleidoscope never really got much use, although I certainly enjoyed having one. I have denied my children the fun of a kaleidoscope because of my belief that it wouldn't get used much. I'm not reviewing this based on that longevity, which I believe will be similar, because every child is different. My youngest has enjoyed playing with this educational toy, but as the days go past, usage has dwindled as expected, even though this offers far more variation than the one from my youth. Would she part with it? Absolutely not!The kaleidoscope comes with an activity and learning booklet. This explains the science behind angles and light, aimed at later primary school children onward. To encourage younger budding scientists there are drawing opportunities to explore the world around them. Some of these utilise a mirror included in the box to explain angles in a hands-on fashion. The booklet is well thought out and offers learning in a fun and interactive way. Depending on the age of the child and their disposition to such material will dictate how many activities they complete. As a team activity these could shine.The journal is not designed to be reusable.The kaleidoscope itself can be used with two mirrors and retain the ability to move either one to adjust the reflecting angles. This doesn't produce a fragmented image so much, so once the third mirror was inserted it rarely came out. With all three mirrors it behaves like a kaleidoscope of old, although the mirrors are pretty much fixed (important instructions for the children not to try to force them to move). The inclusion on of the somewhat translucent shapes create the colourful patterns expected. Although for best results the scope needs to be pointed vertically allowing them do spread out across the lens. It's a great touch that you can use as little or as many of these, or put your own items (or liquid!) in to the rotatable chamber. That's the key unique selling point for this, which moves it to a 4* rather than 3* for me (and the children).

I got this for my son to try. He's a bit younger than the target age range and so may get more use out of it as the years pass. The main reason I got it was because of the way you can add things to the chamber yourself to view them. Anything goes really.There's a really helpful and useful booklet with activities and information inside. There's also a journal your child can complete after conducting various elements. If you have a child who is interested in science then it's going to be great for them.Kaleidoscopes have really come on since I was a kid. Once they were just something to look into and see a pretty picture, only to discard them a moment later. This one has much more potential and is a learning tool too.