Ideas: Fun Educational Hobbies for Children

[Acert93]

Do others have ideas and suggestions for hobbies, toys, adventures, etc that are fun and educational? Especially in regards to science? Things that worked well for you as a child or for your own children?

We have a couple experiment books and a couple handfuls of DK books that we enjoy. My oldest is 7 and our next oldest is 5. I recently picked up a Snap Circuits and they LOVE it. So much so I picked up the SC-750 model and plan to use it with them daily during my recovery from surgery.

My parents recently got them a 150x digital microscope and they really like it. My kids really like science. My sons consider it their favorite thing to do--my oldest says he loves science. They don't even consider it a part of their homeschool curriculum (probably because dad does all these things with them and doesn't mention the words school).

I am contemplating what to do next with them. In 15 months our 7 year old will be 9 and I think he will be quite ready of Lego Mindstorms. He enjoys fiddling with code-like programs (he really liked Kodu a lot), enjoys Legos and RC. I have seen some books that are aimed at helping children build various models. Any recommendations?

We have some RC cars (Losi Mini-Ts) but I got them 2 years ago and they were a little over their head. I think they are just "getting it" now. Snap Circuits has an RC kit and there are build your own basic models that may be just right to jump them into to tearing these apart on their own. Anyone have luck with such?

Microscope (2000x). The kids enjoy the digital microscope but it is difficult to use. I really enjoyed biology in college and I am hoping to engage them with microscopic projects. This may be overkill now but in a couple years this sounds like a good investment so they can start studying "micro bugs" for fun.

Telescope. I had one as a child but I was never very good with it (the skies are not too great in Seattle). I am a newb on these but the kids love watching the Universe series and other space shows with me. I have been tempted to get one of those "push button" newer models. I think my kids are still a little young to really appreciate and use this--and I am not too skilled--but I would like to encourage them in this area. Even if it is a basic introduction.

I am not looking to do any of this stuff "right now" but with 4 children and homeschooling I am looking ahead to how I can get them in the right direction in science and make it fun. Also, part of the cost on some of these things can bee seen as multi-child investments (e.g. a solid $300 microscope can be split across all 4). With the 'scopes I am thinking that models that support cameras would be great so when they cannot sketch items at the moment they can take pictures and do it later--or make scrap books, post them on the family blog, send them to friends, etc.

So I am all ears for ideas. This is mainly for thinking out loud for me but I know most of you are quite keen on the sciences and have some really terrific experiences to share.

Thanks

 

[Davros]

Rocketry

 

[hoho]

There are awesome Legos for pretty much all ages from 3 months to infinity, though I'm not sure if you can get them in US. From the age of 10-ish introducing them to programming might not be all that bad idea either. Give them PyGame and show how they can make a "world" that follows the rules they make and they might like it. I started with programming with qbasic at around 13 or so and didn't really have anyone to teach me but since then to today it has been my main hobby and it has given me an awesome job


If you want to get a telescope get something that has computer-controlled tripod so you can just select a target and it focuses on it automatically. Just manually sweeping over the sky randomly won't probably give you much. Though only problem with that could be that the images you can see with that are far cry from the images we see in media made with HUGE and/or space-based telescopes.

At a bit later age photography might be an option as well. Combine a half-decent camera with microscope/telescope and it'll open up whole new world.

homeschooling

I hope you are good at teaching them maths and especially probabilities and statistics so they can figure out on their own when someone is talking BS.

 

[Alexko]

How about taxidermy?

 

[AlNom]

Any science camps offered at the local university? I used to do that when I was younger.

 

[Mize]

Not sciencey or anything but the archery set I got my 13 year old for xmas has shed hours off his weekly video gaming (as it was intended). Of course you have to live somewhere with enough space for a pile of straw bales and where it's legal to shoot arrows in the backyard.

Ironically, while it's not video game playing, he often pretends to be Link from Zelda as he shoots the straw bales...

 

[Grall]

W00t for pretending to be Link. Get him a boomerang too and he can perform practical tasks like smashing flowerpots, and collecting hidden jewels in tall grass from afar!

Astronomy is way, way cool, but as already mentioned, just panning around the sky probably won't be very fun. You'd need a knowledgeable guide who knows what landmarks to aim for, where they are, and what they are. If you just see a nebula for example that'll be interesting for like 2 minutes, but if you have someone who can provide background and context to what you're seeing then it really gets the gears whirring in your head!

There should be astronomy clubs and whatnot in Seattle, but teh kiddies probably need a few more years under their belts first before they can appreciate something as enormous and complex as the universe. In the meanwhile, I'd recommend Legos, or why not Meccano. That's a bit expensive though, but building stuff and being creative with your hands and your mind is very inspirational, and also educational even though the kids probably don't even realize it.

 

[Sxotty]

ROFL, I am a bit far from this point yet, but I love this thread so far.

 

[V3]

Chemistry set and maybe a camera for photography. You can learn some physics on how camera works, and you can learn the subject of your photos too, like rocks, flowers, insects, birds, etc. Plus it gets them ouf of the house. I used to keep photo journal of things I photographed with all the data I could find on them as a kid, fun times.

 

[Sonic]

Believe it or not cooking is a great way to teach children basic chemistry. And you can make delicious meals while doing it.

An ant farm is always cool and can teach your children a lot about insects and the animal kingdom. I wouldn't recommend one unless your children are sure to keep it in a safe place where it will not spill, and if it does it is easily and quickly contained.

Legos as everyone else has said. Limitless things to be done with legos, will let children explore their engineering and creative sides.

Something my son has recently picked up is building model planes, trains, and boats. Ever since he's started he's looked up the histories of each craft he builds on Wikipedia and schools me on them. I enjoy it immensely.

When spring rolls around gardening is a lot of fun, and can be highly educational. You can teach your kids about different types of plants, fungi, blah. Then go more in depth, select different plants to grow and chart their growth every two weeks and take pictures, always from the same spot. Every two weeks make a lesson of it and yeah. Shit, you could even teach them about plant cell biology if you end up getting them a 2000x microscope. Take a sample of each plant you grow. That would be awesome.

Rocketry like Davros said would be awesome, but it can get very expensive and a lot of red tape to go through, from what I've read. I guess it depends on how serious your rocket is and yeah. Fireworks too!