A Home Lab/Shop For Kids? 291
sharp-bang writes "When I was growing up, my Dad let my brother and I have the run of his wood shop, and kept up a steady stream of Lego kits, Estes model rockets, chemistry sets, Heathkit projects, and other fun science stuff from the Edmund Scientific catalog, and the rest was history. I'd like to give my kids that kind of experience. If your kids were interested in science, computers, robots, and building stuff, how would you build and outfit a lab/shop for them (and you) to play in?"
Edmunds is around. Online too (Score:1, Informative)
Sorry I had to post as AC. The "Hardware" section apparently doesn't accept my login*.
There's also http://scitoys.com/
My favorite: http://amasci.com/
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*(It's slashdot's problem, not mine. I can log into other sections)
Lego (Score:1, Informative)
Older kids build stuff - R/C aircraft, telescopes (Score:5, Informative)
- Combustion engines
- Mixing fuel (some chemistry)
- Radio gear
- Flight dynamics
- Assembling and building, where care is needed to avoid major mistakes that would render the model unflyable
- Woodwork and metal work (and you'll aquire the tools for these if you don't already have them)
- The importance of measurement in the real world
- Importance of safety and developing good practice and procedure to make things safe
If you go with the above, make sure you join a club and practice on a simulator as it does take quite some time for most people to get the hang of controlling a plane and nothing will cause a child to lose interest quicker than a toy that takes a month to build and breaks (crashes) in under a minute. It's definitely harder than r/c cars which don't fall out of the sky if you slow down too much, aren't affected by the wind etc. (In fact petrol engine cars - not the $10 toys - are a simpler alternative with less of a learning curve BUT there isn't as much reward either).
Also when they're old enough, you could get them to build a dobsonian telescope. It's not particularly difficult, and you can choose to do it from components. Again you learn about woodwork and metal work, but also add optics and astronomy to the mix.
The point is that while the above are in a sense toys, in another they are not. You have to be rigid and disciplined because you are creating a real working piece of equipment where tolerances are important. Kids unfortunately grow up in a schooling environment today where they are taught whatever they do will be just fine. Great for the child's confidence, but the trouble is that's not how the real world works.
These hobbies aren't something they can't be left to do unsupervised - you'll actually have to learn yourself and help teach them. You might even end up doing classes together (telescope making), or taking tution together (learning to fly r/c). It does require that the child can follow direction, has some patience and doesn't just lose interest in a week. They also have to be interested in the end product or they won't want to do it.
The other thing that should be obvious to people here if you like the idea of building things together is to teach them to build a computer from scratch. That's actually a practical skill they can use whether or not they wind up in IT.
Re:Frikken cool. (Score:5, Informative)
Isn't there a name for that? Isn't it called "marriage"?
(disclaimer: It's a joke. My wife's actually pretty cool, and no she doesn't read slashdot)
Sounds like a good idea (Score:5, Informative)
Try to add some design elements to the area by painting with colors or maybe a mural. You could paint the mural with your kids for more fun. You can add wall hangings, tapestries, medieval collectables, gel lamps, electronic knick knacks, and mood lighting to make it cool. Buy a nice radio and speakers so you can have music playing, but keep the TV and Wii/Xbox out of that room.
I would also consider putting in a sofa and nice cushy chairs so you can have a reading section. Place that near a window to let the light in.
my 2 cents (Score:5, Informative)
american science and surplus near Chicago [sciplus.com]- I would highly recommend a visit to the real store, if you are nearby.
Creativity loves junk... (Score:4, Informative)
The type I think you're thinking of is me. And It seems to be rare outside of
As for furnishings? Maybe that's something the kid will know themselves. I'm 20, and it's really only in the past few years that I've started salvaging stuff from broken stuff (saving that stuff from being thrown out, of course) and building cool stuff...
So *give your kid the broken stuff in the basement for his birthday*... cd player/radio boombox, VCR, electric blender, broken plastic containers for raw material...
Lego Mindstorms (Score:4, Informative)
I have always thought that Lego was the best toy for children. The Lego Mindstorms [wikipedia.org] kit includes USB and Bluetooth capabilities, amongst a hell of a lot of other cool stuff.
I think it would be a great thing for a young kid to have. That and a fabricator.
Make Magazine (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What did your dad do? (Score:5, Informative)
Many young inventors are shocked to discover that you can't just design a part using CAD-CAM and email the design off to a factory in China to be mass produced.
Sure you can. [emachineshop.com]
Re:Older kids build stuff - R/C aircraft, telescop (Score:3, Informative)
- Because it's expensive, the time and money are both spread out over time
- As another poster noted, no need to start with R/C. Rubber band power and gliders are a gentler, cheaper entry into the hobby.
Still some parents will spend that $1000 on toys without giving it a thought.
VEX Kits. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Don't laugh (Score:5, Informative)
MAKE magazine, LadyAda, EvilMadScientist (Score:3, Informative)
I teach an undergrad course in computer organization (basically beginner architecture), and I've gotten lots of ideas from Lady Ada [ladyada.net] and Evil Mad Scientist [evilmadscientist.com]. We use AVR [avrfreaks.net] microcontrollers, and the cheap-o USB programmers from Lady Ada, to do a bunch of fun and easy projects.
My kids are 8 and 5, and are playing around a lot with LEDs and magnets. I probably won't let them solder until they're teen-agers (lead in solder sucks, but solder without lead also sucks), but they are getting to breadboard some stuff.
And of course, mentos and coke is always a good idea.
Fun Education Resources (Score:4, Informative)
Anyway, he did a talk on "Make Your Own School" which was about his tinkering school he runs for kids, as well as "the Five Dangerous Things You Should Have Your Kids Do" Both were very informative and common sense. Write him and see if he has any publications you can read.
On his site he had a link to his five dangerous things talk at ted: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/202 [ted.com]
Grow up free (Score:1, Informative)
The torrents are full of interesting and currently illegal bits of chemistry.
If you can not walk out the back door and shoot a squirrel, you can not grow up free. Living on 40 acres in the country will not hurt, as you need to get away from evil neighbors and home owners associations.
Andy
Scitoys you can build (Score:5, Informative)
This web site is full of cool stuff you can build. Available in dead-trees versions [sci-toys.com] if you prefer. Seriously, check this out; this site makes me want to start building things.
Example: build a home-made radio [sci-toys.com]. He starts with a trivial radio with only two parts, then adds another part to improve it, then improves it again... eventually he has you rolling your own capacitors! Each step illustrates something cool. By the end you are building a crystal radio like the ones soldiers used to build during World War I.
steveha
Re:hmmm (Score:2, Informative)
Do you mean like this [cnn.com]?
=)
Re:Don't laugh (Score:2, Informative)
where did you go to school?
nitrogen triiodidehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_triiodide [wikipedia.org]? Not looked kindly upon by the RA's. Even at a nerd school.
ps: easy to make, if you can find crystalline iodine: stick the iodine crystals in a coffee filter and slowly pour household ammonir through. let dry, verrrrry carefully. The resulting crystals are contact explosives, and they leave a nasty redidsh purple mess behind, too
Re:Don't laugh (Score:4, Informative)
As the government, their argument was that he, as a chemist, knows other applications for ASA, too, that he has access to the other necessary ingredients for malice (he's working at a chem factory) and they wanted to know which one he had in mind. Fortunately he could produce a certificate explaining chronic migraine.
Paranoia isn't a trait only possessed by the US feds. It has become a global pandemic in governmental circles.
Re:Half of the innocent stuff I did as a kid... (Score:2, Informative)
- model rockets, only place to launch is a city park a block away. Kids loved it, even attracted a couple of the neighbor kids. Cops showed up after the third launch and put a stop to it, "can't do that in a city park".
- used dry ice and water to explode plastic pop bottles - neighbors called the cops
- having a perfect unobstructed view of nearly the entire night sky, I bought a nice 3-inch telescope to use on the back deck. The kids got to see Jupiter and three of its moons, they were able to barely make out the rings of Saturn, Mars and Venus were interesting, and the moon of course was fun to look at. Neighbor lady accused of looking in her windows (even though the scope was pointed UP and 90-degrees away from her house). After that, she made it a point to slam windows shut and to make sure we noticed her jerking the blinds closed every time we were out there. Made me uncomfortable enough to just say f*** it, took all the fun out of being out there.
Truly depressing. Now one kid won't move away from the Xbox, except to eat, and the other has tuned in to various MTV garbage and American Idol. Sigh....
Re:Egads Man (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What did your dad do? (Score:4, Informative)
That's a business problem, not an engineering problem.
Re: Lead by example, Enable (Score:2, Informative)
- Lead by example: If they watch you repairing/building/fiddling with things, they will want to do it as well.
- Enable: place to make a mess!!! Tools. Raw materials. Things to take to bits and to combine
Let them find what they'd like to fiddle with.
Don't jump on them with instructions and help, Even if you mean well. Wait for the moment when they are ready to invite you, then share the project.
Re:Most importantly (Score:3, Informative)