Slashdot Mirror
A Home Lab/Shop For Kids?
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?"
Hmmm ... I have to disagree. First find out what they're passionate about (if anything at this age). If they're young enough to be undecided, then you can go with what you like--but be prepared to completely change course if they discover something else.
My dad is an industrial engineer, so I got the whole math/science schtick, with a Heathkit computer and lots of stuff to build. However, when I turned 10, I turned on to music. Music is still a passion of mine ... but unfortunately, Dad didn't understand how I felt about it, so he was still pushing for the hard sciences. I never even learned to read standard notation, much less the music theory I wanted to take in high school.
Needless to say, this caused some friction, and to this day my passion for music is a lot greater than my knowledge for music.
If you haven't been down-modded lately, you aren't trying.
Sacred cows make the best hamburger.
Might as well...you know he'll already be on the DHS watch list just for the rockets and chemistry set.
[b.belong('us') for b in bases if b.owner() == 'you']
Since my mother took us in the divorce (age 13), I did my hobby stuff on my own, on my school desk on weekends and in cold weather, and out on a balcony during warmer weather. She encouraged it, but couldn't really add much. When I later had two rooms, I kitted out the second room with a 'workbench' (old door on two saw horses) and some of my father's old tools that he had left behind.
Give them some catalogs (Edmund, Estes, Allelectronics, Smarthome, etc.) and see what floats their boats. I think I'd try and start them with something that sparked their interest, and in the course of exploring with them and 'guiding' their early efforts, I'd answer their questions about the hobbies I was passionate about. I joined a local model rocketry club in 9th grade, and attended meetings a few times a month. We were involved in regional competitions - parents took turns schlepping us around to weekend meets a few times a year.
At a minimum, you need a hobbyist (clean) jawvise, flat and sturdy cutting surface, setting gluding surface(s), someplace to sand stuff, good lighting. Basic tools, like X-Acto handles and blades, steel rule, smallish drivers. Over time, I added a Dremel and specialty tools I saw others using. For electronics tools, a low-wattage soldering iron, a DVM, needlenose pliers, hand tools, desoldering tools, and some fun kits to start. Even before the kits, something simple to practice soldering and desoldering, to learn how not to fry components (always my gumption trap).
That's key. Even though parents know what's "best", a lot of being young is exploration unhindered by authority breathing down one's back. Doing stuff with mom or pop can be fun, but there are constraints. Some children don't want to be babied but it helps to have a parent in the know if a question does arise. YMMV.