A key bit of advice when buying astronomical telescopes
Telescopes, and in particular astronomical telescopes make one of the best presents you could possibly buy for a child
. The stars are amazing things and learning about the stars will teach your son or daughter a lot of the fundamentals of science in a fun and very hands on way.
Firstly it is important to remember that there are two parts to a telescope. The scope itself and the stand on which it rests. Astronomical telescopes are extremely sensitive and the slightest movement will result in a massive movement in the eyepiece. The stand needs to be very stable but it is also the means by which the scope is moved. For astronomical viewing do not even consider hand held telescopes without a mount, at this level you'd be best off with the naked eye or a pair of binoculars.
On the face of it, it may seem that magnification is going to be the most important thing about your new telescope - It isn't, not at all. High magnification will tend to just make an already distant and blurry image even more so. For an amateur a magnification of just 100x is perfectly adequate for viewing the features of the moon and possibly a little high for viewing clusters of stars. What you are really looking for is a large aperture, this is the end of the telescope that lets the light in and the larger it is, the more light will get into the scope and the more you will see.
The are many different types of telescopes and many different types of mount but they all basically do the same thing, let you see things that are far away. A dealer or a good website will help you chose the best one for your purpose but before you go there remember; don't be fooled by exaggerated claims of vast magnification and stick to a good quality well mounted scope with a big wide aperture that is easy to use.
A key bit of advice when buying astronomical telescopes