How to Make Microscope Slides

Ordinary optical microscopes can magnify samples to 200 times their normal size or more. At that resolution, you can see microscopic organisms and individual cells quite easily. Make your own slides to study life forms from ponds or even the cells from your own body.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Pond water
• Slide plate
• Cover slip
• Tweezers
• Eye dropper
• Lens cleaner
• Lens cloth
• Microscope
• Toothpick
• Blood
• Milk

Pond Water Slide

1. Make sure that your slide plates are clean. They should have no fingerprints, scratches markings on them. If they do, carefully clean them with lens cleaner and a lens cleaning cloth while holding them by the edges.

2. Get water from a pond. Pond water is teaming with microscopic organisms, making it an ideal liquid to look at under a microscope.

3. Hold a slide by the edges. Using an eyedropper, put a small drop of water in the center of the slide. The smaller the drop, the better.

4. Carefully pick up a cover slip by the edges. Put it down on the slide so that the drop of water is under it.

5. Use a pair of tweezers to push the cover slip sideways. This will smear the pond water into a very thin layer, which will make it easier to view through a microscope.

6. Make a cheek cell slide. Scrape the inside of your cheek with a toothpick. Gently rub the edge of the toothpick in the center of the slide plate and smear it with the cover slip as in step 5.

7. Try some other sorts of slides. You can easily make a slide with blood, milk or other liquids.

Tips & Warnings

• Cover slips are very easy to break. Be careful!

Resources

• Blood Slides