Viewing onion cells with a kids microscope

Last week we tried something, that if I am completely honest, I did not expect to work.....we've tried many things that we've seen online and often not quite got the same results.

Alhamdulillah, this was not one of those occasions, and indeed was a huge boost to home schooling morale.......we saw onion cells....at home......in our kitchen......with a microscope!


We've started working with a science text book to begin KS3. I will admit, science scares me a little, and I don't want to mess with my children's education by pulling out what I *think* may be beneficial at secondary stage, when at the end of the day, I do want them to sit their GCSE's inshaAllah.
Therefore, I decided to try following a text book to start preparing us for what the children will "need" to know bi'ithnillah.

The first lesson was a very basic introduction to the microscope and cells. I knew reading the book alone would not be enough to *teach* this. I feel science needs to be hands on, not just abstract theory, to allow a comprehensive understanding.

Just as a baby is mesmerised by the sight and feel of his own fingers because its the first time he has seen them, our children as they get older continue to be introduced to new things for the first time. Science is one of those things. I feel if they are to truly understand it, they should be able to see and experience it....or as much of it as we can facilitate within our means inshaAllah.

Back when we started home edding, I was E'id shopping.....and as you do when you are a new home schooler, you buy anything to do with school and education.....for E'id!
I was in TK max and there I saw amongst all the toys, a National Geographic Microscope for just £14.99 Allahumma barik! Of course I was going to use it with my 3 and 5 year old! (cough)

Anyway, Alhamdulillah we have had use out of it, albeit several years later. I pulled it out the cupboard, and had a quick look on youtube to find out how we can collect and prepare a slide for onion cells.

It seemed easy enough.....so I got everything together, substituting iodine (used to dye the cells so you can see them) with yellow and red food colouring. (Yellow I feel worked much better than the red).

Alhamdulillah, we actually saw onion cells! I was amazed (I think perhaps more so than my children!). I was surprised using a simple kids microscope allowed us to see this subhanAllah.

I tried to take a photo through the eye piece.....this was the best snap I could get.

So there you have it: secondary science, at the kitchen table!