Api 510 Standard Free there. Nothing will whet a child's appetite for science like peering into teeny-tiny worlds with a microscope. And nothing will quash their interest like a cheap plastic toy that reveals nothing. Buying a kid a microscope, then, requires a little bit of care. 'You do want to spend a little bit more to get an actual metal, real-lens,' said Bev DeVore-Wedding, a science teacher at Meeker High School in Meeker, Colo., and a member of the board of directors of the National Science Teachers Association. Plastic microscopes can't handle the use a kid will put them through, DeVore-Wedding told Live Science, and plastic lenses can't provide as good an image as real glass — they don't focus well and warp easily. For the best image, choose a microscope with a light source instead of one that uses mirrors.