Occasionally, helpful relatives buy one of my kids a telescope. Telescopes marketed at children are garbage — you’d be better off burning the money you spent on it for heat. There’s a nice Epinions article from 2001, Don’t Buy a Child a Telescope!, that outlines the problems with these toy telescopes and recommends a better method of getting children interested in observing the night skies,
There doesn’t exist a telescope that is really of any value, other than for the imagination, designed for a child under 12 years.
When we get them, they may spark an interest, and certainly a night, maybe two or more of observing the moon, maybe even Jupiter or Venus, but mostly they collect dust.
Why?
a. Because department & camera store telescopes are ALL toys that are of very little use for viewing anything except the moon (“real” telescopes cost more than US$200),
b. Until you have gained some experience, there is really very little to “see” in the sky that a child can’t see with his or her own eyes, or with the assistance of a pair of binoculars,
c. It’s much more satisfying for a child to “learn” astronomy in stages than to be disappointed and discouraged by a cheap optical instrument.
The author instead recommends a good pair of binoculars and a good skywatching book geared toward children. Very good advice indeed.
