Preparing a Microscope Slide

In order to be able to use a microscope , you must be able to prepare a slide. A slide is simply a thin piece of glass that holds your specimen ( the thing you want to look at ) and lets you observe.

1. Place your specimen in the middle of a clean slide. Ensure that the specimen is laying laying flat and not folded .

2. Add 2-3 drops of the stain solution. Plant cells are commonly stained with iodine , wheres as animals cells are commonly stained with methylene blue. Both of these solutions stain the nucleus of each cell (and your fingers and clothes, so be careful)


3 Holding a cover slip by its edges in your left hand , manoeuvre it so that the bottom edge of the cover slip makes contact with both the slide and the edge of the stain solution. With your right hand , support the top edge of the cover slip with a pair of tweezers

4. Gently lower the cover slip with the tweezers , ensuring that no air bubbles are trapped under the cover slip.

5 Place your slide on the microscope stage and examine it under low-power magnification


1. Outline the function of the cover slip.




this is a plant cell

Here is a animal cell

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