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What to show/let do with a 4 1/2 year old in the lab?

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Kasper:

--- Quote from: duckduck on August 17, 2020, 10:18:33 pm ---
--- Quote from: Kasper on August 14, 2020, 12:31:44 am ---I think a function generator, a speaker and an oscilloscope are a fun combo.

--- End quote ---

Jr. enjoyed hearing the signal generator and the permutations of frequency, volume, and sine/square. I didn't think to hook it up to the o-scope. I'll have to give that a shot next time.

--- End quote ---

Good to hear.  I think that was the first lab in college.

Refrigerator:

--- Quote from: daqq on August 13, 2020, 07:53:40 am ---Practical stuff. Try to teach him to solder. Let him solder a few LEDs together and hook it up to a battery.

edit: Even soldered wire sculptures with no electric function are something he will appreciate.

--- End quote ---

Easy to get burned though. I know because i used to solder my broken plastic toys together when i was 5.

kleiner Rainer:
What I did with my godchildren: get a bat detector kit, build it together and search for bats in the evening. This year I will take eight children out for our local nature conservancy group during "bat night" and show them our local bat population. Great fun, I can assure you.

We use these:

https://www.amazon.de/FRANZIS-Fledermausdetektor-zum-Selberbauen-Engl/dp/3645652760


Greetings,

Rainer

tggzzz:

--- Quote from: Messtechniker on August 12, 2020, 05:13:01 pm ---The 4 1/2 year old son of my nephew only recently accidentally discovered my lab. He stood in the door for over a minute any was apparently overwhelmed by the sight and has been talking about it at home ever since. Now my question: what to do with him next time round?

--- End quote ---

Ah, you lucky person :)

Whatever you choose, consider

* fit it to his attention span. If he's interested he will continue, if he's not that's fine too
* immediate feedback helps. Having a payoff in 60 mins may be too far away
* have things to twiddle, and the abilty to see/hear/feel (not smell!) the difference
* open ended is good, since you can't predict how long they will remain interested
* be prepared for them to be more interested in the box than the present. That's good, since it shows imagination and active thought, not mere passive reception
I rather like the microphone + amplifier + scope idea, since it fits all those.

But above all listen and watch - see what catches their interest!

Messtechniker:
Thanks for the advice here. Apparently his attention span is quite short as experienced myself yesterday while out shopping together with his grandmother and aunt. She said this is probably due to the mistake of his mother letting him use a smartphone alone keeping him quiet beginning at the age of 2 or so.  :palm:. Played the game of "how many groceries do you know?" After two (cucumber and red pepper) he was distracted by nothing apparent. Grandmother said he knows all the Lidl groceries.  :-+ So it will be difficult to keep him interested in anything for longer that say 20 seconds.  :palm:

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