When we received Eye Clops (Jakks Pacific $49.99) during the summer, it was at the end of a very long day of toy testing. I know that sounds like fun, but after several hours of screening games with poor directions–it can get a little tired.
Anyway we plugged the Eye Clops into the tv and followed the suggestion to put the device (that magnifies up to 200X) up to fabric we had in the room–the sofa, a sweater, etc. — the fibers looked like something out of “Honey I Shrunk the Kids”…but the coolest and grossest thing we did was to try it out on our skin. The smoothest skin to the naked eye became a sea of scales–with some odd variations in coloring. Let’s just say I called the dermatologist the next day!

While kids are having such a great time finding new things to use the Eye Clops on–they are having a hands on science experience that’s fun and interactive! And because kids can see the results on a large tv, it really does allow younger kids to explore the concept of magnification that would usually happen much later in an intro lab situation.

Eye Clops received an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award. For more information visit www.toyportfolio.com.