– Telescope, Beige, SMRT1174, Telescope Toy

It’s not often a kid’s toy impresses me. I had low expectations for this but it knocked my socks off. The tolerances were surprisingly tight. They need to be for a sturdy object. A little patience helped get the pieces together as if it was machine built. The lenses leave a little to be desired but do the job. It is comfortable for my 6 year old to use, fun, can take a knock or two, and fun for both adults and kids alike. There are ample spare parts.

This is definitely an addition to enthusiastic kids' collection. It gives an opportunity to assemble and learn the aspects of making a telescope in person. All that's needed to makes the telescope is in the pack and should definitely entertain the child. Expect the resolution/capacity to be limited given the cost and scope but for budding enthusiasts, it definitely works.

Bought as a gift for my son. He enjoyed putting it together, had some difficulty with getting smaller pieces away from wood, but overall did well on his own. He had fun putting it together and enjoys using it now.

I got this as a Christmas gift for my 7yo and 10yo kids, who will be turning 8yo and 11yo in the next couple months. They both have enjoyed similar STEAM projects in the past, and I expected this would be right up their alley. My 10yo was the one who decided to tackle this activity, and I am so incredibly thankful that he was the one who chose it rather than my 7yo. There are a lot of small steps that require careful fine motor skills. He struggled, and he’s close to his 11th birthday. I can’t imagine my almost 8yo child pulling this off anytime in the near future. There are also a gazillion rubber bands. I wasn’t paying close attention to the steps as my 10yo worked through it, but there was a lot of ranting about how the smallest rubber band size kept flying out of his fingers. It’s been several days, and I’m still finding them in random spots near where he worked. Thankfully, the makers account for this by providing a ton of backup bands, so there was no shortage. It’s just a bit awkward to suddenly have tiny rubber bands all over the place. In the end, he got it done without my assistance, and he had a working telescope that was very cool. I’m not sure how much he tested the measurement aspects, but he was happy and proud of the work he had done, which is what I care about. In summary, this telescope STEM project is probably better for 10+ unless your kids excel with their fine motor skills, but it’s still a nice project with a working end result.

Is useful for keeping kids occupied. Quality okay and makes them think.