Using a Kid’s Microscope

 

I wanted to get my son more than just toys for Christmas, I wanted to get him stuff that he will both use, and will nurture a curious mind.  To that end, I bought him the book Greg’s Microscope and gave it to him a couple of months ago and we had many talks about all the cool things Greg discovered in his microscope (with William’s microscope already hidden in the present closet.)

It did not take long before WT started asking for a microscope (and a chemistry set) and the die was cast.

I also bought a scope adaptor so I could take pictures of his microscope adventures on my phone.  Unfortunately it was too big and I needed to adapt it.  Later I plan on using this on a .22 rifle scope.

So this is just a toy microscope, for under $50 you get plastic lens and a small frame.  That’s okay though if he likes it I will get him a better one – I just didn’t want to spend good money on a good scope for a 5 year old.

In using his kid’s microscope he will learn techniques that will still work on a “real” one.  Start at a lower power and move up as necessary, how to prepare slides, how to adjust focus, how to adjust the light.

One thing I liked about this particular kid’s microscope is that it has both a mirror and a battery powered light.  This makes it much easier to use.

We have started small by recreating many of the things he read about in his Greg’s microscope book, and he has been busy finding other things to look at.

This was a good investment, not in the toy microscope, but in my boy.

My dad always gave me the option to either grow up smart OR strong – I want my son to be both.

Using the Sureshot HD Video Game Review

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This Sureshot HD game is so easy to hook up, and it pushed the wife over the edge so I could buy a new TV – of course our old one is from the 90s so it was time.

To hook this up, plug it into the wall and take the hdmi cable from the device and plug it into the tv.  There are also some velcro tape in the package to help stick it to your tv – but that may not be necessary for you.

All that is left is to turn the SureShot HD shooting game on and follow the instructions on the screen to set up your guns.

I would suggest you set up the guns from where you are going to be standing.  My son likes trying to get up close to the tv so he can cheat – but he can’t figure out why he misses.  The game setup tells the game where the gun is located, move too far from that spot and your gun will be misaligned to the tv.

The game comes with two bluetooth guns and two games (two hard games) – but if you sign up for a profile you can get a credit for a third game – we got a single player shoot’em up “army” game.

My son and I both like the single player shoot’em game the best, but the two gun hunting games are more fun with groups.

This wasn’t a Christmas present, I got these games around Thanksgiving to do a review on, but it has gotten the most use of all my son’s presents.  He loves this game, and did not want to stop playing it to talk about it on camera.

I try to use this to teach some gun handling rules, but let him have fun and haven’t started to work on his cross dominant eye issue yet – but this game helped me notice his issue, so for me its not all fun and games, but this is a fun game and I am happy I got the chance to use it.  I really like this game and think its a great deal.

How to Make a Mini Apple Pie

How to Make a Mini Apple Pie

Mini Apple pie - My little Piemaker
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52 Unique Techniques for Stocking Food for Prepper
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Today we make mini apple pie.  On a whim I bought the little pie maker set pictured here and started messing with making pie dough and lots of pies.  I am new to making pie crust, but I should have gotten into earlier as much as I like tomato pie.

My son was pretty exited about making mini pies, he wanted us to eat them up, but he had to give permission to specific people who could eat them.

This isn’t a recipe or a review, We are just showing the little silicon pie crusts and how they work.

I am sure that if you made a lot of pie crust you would make better pies than I do

This is a pretty cool thing to do with a kid, or if like me, your wife does not allow whole pies into the house due to being “non-supportive” of her diet.

But I will show you the apple pie filling:

Ingredients:

  • 1 large granny smith apple cored, peeled, and chopped into pieces
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
  • 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

Procedure:

  • Mix all the ingredients
  • Spoon into mini pies and fill about 1/3 full
  • Add egg wash to the top of the dough and then add the tops

Contour Camera Review

Gear Review: Contour Camera
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I recently purchased a contour +2 action camera to use in my video production.  I bought it because it was small, durable, had an external mic jack, streamed wireless to my phone, was water proof, and had a built in GPS.  So it only figures that I would do a post on a Contour Camera Review

When I got it, I found that it was oversold just a little bit – it has an HDMI out port – which they say allows it to be used as a webcam to apple computers – but the laptop I have is HDMI out only, so it will not work to tape my classes.

The video is a little jump as it has a low frame rate, and the lens makes everything look a little walleyed.

However, it comes with a waterproof case for scuba and snorkeling activities, and a bunch of different mounts – if I was using this solely as a gun cam, I would be very happy, as it is smaller and has more features than the go-pro.

Because I wanted a good quality camera with an external mic jack and I wanted to stay under $1000.00 I allowed myself to be taken by all the hoopla around this camera.  I guess sionce I have a waterproof case I can finannyl start working on shooting the Glock underwater…