I’ve got this friend from class who, when asked what her hobby is, always answers: SLEEP. She is almost always late for her first class of the day. The reason? She slept through her alarm clock. And usually, not too long after wandering drowsily into class, she’ll nod back off again into a restful slumber at her desk. Thankfully, she doesn’t snore. She seems to doze through most all of her classes, actually.
On a couple of occasions, some of us have tried gifting her with louder and even louder alarm clocks, energy drinks, espresso, caffeinated candies, you name it. No change. So for her birthday just last week, we decided to stop buying alarm clocks for her. Instead, she unwrapped the box to find a Giant Microbes Sleeping Sickness Microbe.
The real sleeping sickness microbe is a parasitic disease found in Africa. While the parasites don’t have the sleepy eyes that the Giant Microbe Sleeping Sickness Microbe has, the rest of it actually does look alike! Each Giant Microbe is about 5-7 inches across, over a million times bigger than the microbes they represent.
Giant Microbes can be great teaching aids. Unlike the bland pictures of microscopic organisms commonly found in textbooks, the microbe characters have a greater chance of getting the attention of a kid (or teenager). These Giant Microbes are much more memorable, and the lessons taught with them won’t be so easily forgotten. Science class doesn’t have to be boring.
Attached to each Giant Microbe is an information tag which explains the microbe’s scientific name, has an image of the actual microbe, and a brief science and history lesson about the microbe. These make great gifts for teachers, parents, kids interested in science, and just about anyone with a sense of humor or in need of a smile.
As for my sleepy friend, she found the soft lilac microbe terribly cute. She’d hold the fuzzy critter right up to her nose and giggle. And before her birthday party was even over, she’d fallen asleep again, arms curled around her Sleeping Sickness microbe.
These toys are recommended for kids ages 3 and up. You can pick one up here.
