cookiesforthree

I have a 10 year old son who loves, loves, loves science. I've kind of exhausted the kitchen science stuff with him. We recently purchased a used (new to us) washing maching. We gave the old one to our son who promtly took it apart to investigate every aspect of it. Including any broken blenders and all kinds of things from thrift shops that he takes apart and puts back together to see if he can get it to work.

He's so amazing. It completely fasinates me how he loves this kind of stuff and is so consumed with an old washer machine and how things work.

Does anyone have any ideas they might like to share of what their kids are doing in the science realm? He loves suggestions from people so he can open a whole new can of something else to do.

He's been asking about chemistry sets. There are a billion of them online. Any really great chemistry kits that you love for about the age of 10 year olds that you could recommend to us?

He's beginning to get into soldering now and circut boards. Anyone have any experience with good books for me to learn about this?

I'm NOT really a mechanical type of person....yet. I love to cook and sew, but not the greasy stuff that he loves. So...I'm expanding my horizons so that I can get involved with the things that he likes so we can enjoy them together.

Jessica Voigts

there's a TON of great stuff on
http://makezine.com/

cheers, jessie

On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 2:01 PM, cookiesforthree <
cookiesforthree@...> wrote:

>
>
> I have a 10 year old son who loves, loves, loves science. I've kind of
> exhausted the kitchen science stuff with him. We recently purchased a used
> (new to us) washing maching. We gave the old one to our son who promtly took
> it apart to investigate every aspect of it. Including any broken blenders
> and all kinds of things from thrift shops that he takes apart and puts back
> together to see if he can get it to work.
>
> He's so amazing. It completely fasinates me how he loves this kind of stuff
> and is so consumed with an old washer machine and how things work.
>
> Does anyone have any ideas they might like to share of what their kids are
> doing in the science realm? He loves suggestions from people so he can open
> a whole new can of something else to do.
>
> He's been asking about chemistry sets. There are a billion of them online.
> Any really great chemistry kits that you love for about the age of 10 year
> olds that you could recommend to us?
>
> He's beginning to get into soldering now and circut boards. Anyone have any
> experience with good books for me to learn about this?
>
> I'm NOT really a mechanical type of person....yet. I love to cook and sew,
> but not the greasy stuff that he loves. So...I'm expanding my horizons so
> that I can get involved with the things that he likes so we can enjoy them
> together.
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Sandra Dodd

-=-I have a 10 year old son who loves, loves, loves science.-=-

In school, science is one thing.
In the real world, it is not.

What kinds of things does he like? Mechanics? Electronics?

If he's curious about chemistry, maybe looking at articles about
different household chemicals that you already own would be
interesting. The difference between soap and detergent is a fun
chemistry story, and you might own some of both. If he's interested
in that, there are soap making kits.

There are kits for making crystals (though you can do it with salt and
sugar, for starters).

He might be interested in the different kinds of plastics. Maybe
sorting some of your recycling into which numbers of plastics they are
(in the recycling symbol, if they have one) and see what he can figure
out about those from feel and texture and how they're molded.

There's a lot of natural exploration you can do with things you
already have.

How many different kinds of glue to you have at your house? Two-part
epoxy? Repositional spray glue? Elmer's? What about flour and water
paste; how's that work?

It can be helpful in several ways, for unschoolers, to avoid such
terms as "science" and "history" in favor of terms like "astronomy"
and "botany" and "Ancient Egypt" and "WWII."

http://sandradodd.com/subjects

Sandra

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Robin Bentley

Sandra and Jessica have addressed some ideas for chemistry and
mechanical and electronic stuff. I'm curious about this:

> I love to cook and sew, but not the greasy stuff that he loves.

If you cook the "greasy stuff he loves" that's another way to connect
with him. You might even like some of it yourself <g>.

You can experiment with different versions of what he loves, too. Like
instead of deep-fried potatoes, oven fry them. Instead of fatty
hamburger, use extra lean or ground round with an egg to bind it.
Instead of regular bacon, turkey bacon. Lots of possibilities you can
work together on.

Robin B.

wtexans

===I love to cook and sew, but not the greasy stuff that he loves.===

Oh, my brain translated "greasy stuff" differently than Robin's! I was thinking "greasy stuff" in the form of greasy-mechanical type stuff: "grease-monkey" is what came to mind -- taking apart / putting together things like a bike, lawn mower, engine, etc.

I like Robin's translation better [g].

Glenda

Renee M

// Does anyone have any ideas they might like to share of what their kids are
doing in the science realm? He loves suggestions from people so he can open a
whole new can of something else to do. //

Have you looked at the Lego Robotics stuff?  That might be really interesting
for a mechanically-inclined 10 year old.  Lego League might be fun too, if he
wants to seek out other kids interested in the same kinds of things.  Might also
be more affordable, as the motors and stuff aren't particularly cheap. 


My husband says he used to love building models, like airplanes and cars.  I
think they have kits now to build remote control airplanes that fly.  I know my
DS is fascinated with the remote control airplanes he sees at the park. 


If your son is the entreprenurial type, maybe he can watch Freecycle or
Craigslist (or whatever is similar in your area) for people giving away or
selling broken electronics super cheap, then fix them up and resell them.  

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Karen James

>
> He's been asking about chemistry sets. There are a billion of them online.
> Any really great chemistry kits that you love for about the age of 10 year
> olds that you could recommend to us?
>

Your son might enjoy watching these videos. They are elements from the
periodic table. My son enjoys them:

http://www.periodicvideos.com/

He's beginning to get into soldering now and circut boards. Anyone have any
> experience with good books for me to learn about this?
>

Our son also enjoys these simulations and games. They explore a range of
topics, including electronics, circuitry and chemistry:

http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations

We like to visit and tour places like the recycling center, the power plant,
the water treatment plant. Speaking of water treatment, drinking water
testing kits are a fun way to explore chemistry and tangible applications.
You can usually get them from the hardware store.

Karen.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Alex

> If your son is the entreprenurial type, maybe he can watch Freecycle or
> Craigslist (or whatever is similar in your area) for people giving away or
> selling broken electronics super cheap, then fix them up and resell them.  

On Freecycle in our area you can post a WANTED request once a week. Moderators differ in what they let through--one refused to let me request specifically damaged woolens when I wanted them for crafting--but if you asked for broken appliances/electronics you might get a bunch from people who were hanging on to them just because they felt like they should fix it some day but really were never going to.

Computers have some really toxic stuff in them, so you might want to look into that and precautions before you crack one totally open. National Geographic had an article in the last year or so on toxic computer recycling in other countries. That would be some People Who Take Stuff Apart for a Living. :)

Alex
(Katya's mom)

cookiesforthree

Actually, I did mean greassy stuff as in grease mechanical type stuff.

I know, my posting was not clear. But either way, its fun to hear peoples responses.


--- In [email protected], "wtexans" <wtexans@...> wrote:
>
> ===I love to cook and sew, but not the greasy stuff that he loves.===
>
> Oh, my brain translated "greasy stuff" differently than Robin's! I was thinking "greasy stuff" in the form of greasy-mechanical type stuff: "grease-monkey" is what came to mind -- taking apart / putting together things like a bike, lawn mower, engine, etc.
>
> I like Robin's translation better [g].
>
> Glenda
>