Toy recommendations for young Scientists, Engineers, and aspiring geeks

[Ben]

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@altenbach wrote:

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@tst wrote:

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@Ben wrote:

4) NI Pocket screwdriver - SHe will grab it from my pocket protector and head right for her Hillary Clinton robot and will try to take her arms off.

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Unfortunately, I think the more disturbing part of that sentence is that she has a Hillary Clinton robot (!?).

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Well, less disturbing than a Sarah Palin Robot who would first shoot all her pets, then have some tea. 😄

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I have this wonderful image after seeing Olivia sitting on the robot's' chest with the NI screwdriver shoved done its throat and thinking there is hope for the future.

She has a collection of robots with heart going early to

Elvis Bear, but also has 

Bubba the Bear (an obnoxious critter that respondse to human like voices with really corny jokes) another

spooky bear that cuddles, coos and hugs. and a

robot chiken that that dances and sings like Johnny Cash and another

chicken that sings jingle bells.

The cooing bear and Bubba will keep each other entertained responding to each other, which make one wonder what happens after dark but Olivia's over-all favorites are the robots stripped down to the levers pulleys and gears. We had previously stripped down the robot chicken to see if we could get a Penguin hat (aka Pittsburgh Penguins hockey) to fit over the armature and Hillary... those pants suits always did make her look fat ... has the most moving parts so of course she has the most to offer.

New Flash!

Update from the boy says that Olivia has managed to keep the screen saver from kicking in on her PC for a entire day. I wonder wher she observer that behaviour.

Ben

PS Non-Geek related suggetsions include ball gowns and Dora toothbrush.

[yenknip]

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Ben wrote:

I have 5 days in a row off that I plan to split between entertaining Olivia, teaching myself to weld, and studying this series of Nuggets! These three activities will demand different parts of my brain so when I go into cerebral overload when chewing on these Nuggets, I can take a break and go vaproize some wire or throw a shower of sparks. When it gets toooo cold, I can can curl up with LVOOP, Nerdvana.

Ben

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You could get an age 2-3 sized welding mask, vapourising metal is a vital skill for kids.

[F._Schubert]

Some updates, my geek-daughter is now 3 years. One thing high on her wish-list is a computer, so she can watch some movies...

So found a very old notebook of mine (10+ years) and tried to get it running. First thing she did was to get the power cable in the wall outlet and try to connect it. This model had two kind of accumulators, one that had an integrated charger where this could be directly inserted (which was not installed), so she found the place but realized she can't plug in any thing in there. Next she looked at all sides where to plug it in an among all jacks, she directly pointed to the one where you'd connect a normal charger. Cool.

I did let here watch here movie on my own PC, just to discover 5 min later that she was trying to get the laptop running 😉

Well, getting that computer running is on my todo-list since, just don't have the time & energy to do so. Well, I'm just experimenting with high-power LEDs for general lightning applications. All my flat-mates were close to become pissed-off by my new geek-hobby.

But miss geek 2.0 was straight away claiming those for her. She was already performing some highly scientific experiments with the (looking into my mouth, looking into my nose, eyes I didn't allow 😉 ). Or just used them to play, like cooking my wonderful pancakes on them as a stove.

Yes, I highly recommend to get some of those semiconductor devices as toys for our geeks 2.0 and for ourselves as well.

Felix

[aeastet]

A little back ground:

I am involved with the local high schools FIRST robotics program. I do not have any students of my on in the program but I enjoy the fun and challenge of the whole thing. It is a blast for those of you that have never done it. I do have a three year old and he would be an engineer today if someone would give him the tools to take something apart.

The fun:

He has gone with me to work on the robot a few times and really enjoys getting to "work on the robot". We let him tighten allen screws and move things around. He has even been in the pits with me during one competition. He was getting tools for everyone and just trying to see what is going on. He gets really excited about the whole thing. He goes home singing red alliance red alliance over and over again. For thoes of you that do not know during the competition there are two sides blue and red so the cround is always cheering for the color thay your team is on for that match. No that the season is over he still asks when we are going to go work on the robot again. He still walks around the house singing red alliance all of the time. Is is good to see him getting excited about that at such a young age. This is exactly what this program is suppost to do. Can't wait 'til next season.

[Ben]

Thanks for that update Felix!

Olivia has been using her Fisher_Price lattop for quite a while and has most of the alphabet mastered already which shocked all of us resulting in everyone accusing everyone else of teaching her until her Dad realized what had happened.

The toys (real toys) she still reaches for is the magical unicorn stick-pony and her broom. She has been known to fly around the room stopping only to remind her dad that "I'l get you my pretty, and your little dog too!" Yes she has become very familiar with the Wizard of Oz. In order to exploit her understanding of words and letters, I have been showing the subtitles so she can read along (since she has most of the dialog memorized). Short story: She appeared to be distarcted from the movie and her dad asked her "What is Toto doing?" and without looking up from her model farm house she replied "Running".

But she still likes the real tools and the garage/work-shop is an adveture of rows of shelves and drawers filled with intersting widgets. She knows the garage and shed well enough to find a trowel when its time to plant.

Ben

[Henrik_Volkers]

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@f. Schubert wrote:

Well, getting that computer running is on my todo-list since, just don't have the time & energy to do so. Well, I'm just experimenting with high-power LEDs for general lightning applications. All my flat-mates were close to become pissed-off by my new geek-hobby.

But miss geek 2.0 was straight away claiming those for her. She was already performing some highly scientific experiments with the (looking into my mouth, looking into my nose, eyes I didn't allow 😉 ). Or just used them to play, like cooking my wonderful pancakes on them as a stove.

Yes, I highly recommend to get some of those semiconductor devices as toys for our geeks 2.0 and for ourselves as well.

Felix

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Be carefull with modern LEDs !   Small Kids will always look into the LED and the high power LEDs can damage the eyes!!

So don't get the high performance ones for the Kids, just the cheapos.

[F._Schubert]

Hendrik,

do you have information on these dangers? I'm only aware to be cautious with high-power UV LEDs.

Felix

[Jadita]

Hi Hendrik,

I also would be very interested to know a bit more about the dangers associated with modern LEDs; can you please provide some information? Our grand daughter is a year old and just starting to discover her 'scientific' nature 😄

[Henrik_Volkers]

As far as I remember small Kids not always had learned to trust their lid reflex. They will keep on looking into that nice bright interesting light source. Might have been a pediatric publication....

[Hornless.Rhino]

Also consider what range of frequencies the LEDs exhibit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-energy_visible_light