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Gadgets For a Budding Geek?
fprintf writes "As much as I hate to admit it, it looks like my 13-year-old son is following in my footsteps and preferring interesting, science-based toys. In the past he has been really interested in Lava Lamps, Newton's Cradle, and anything magnetic. It seems the knick-knacks that have generated the most interest were small and relatively inexpensive. For example, a small laser pointer keychain I bought him a couple of years ago still provides tons of entertainment. Yesterday I showed him ThinkGeek and he really liked the Levitron. I wanted to ask the Slashdot crowd what were some other really neat, interesting gadgets? Is there anything cool in the under-$50 range that you would like in your stocking this year?"
I love getting things from ThinkGeek.com They have "toys" and stuff for all ages.
""As much as I hate to admit it, it looks like my 13-year-old son is following in my footsteps and preferring interesting, science-based toys."
Why do you hate to admit it?
Shai Schticks:"You don't make peace with friends, you make peace with enemies"
As I write this the ad under this topic is for the Dungeons and Dragons Starter Set.
I think that should settle it.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
If you hate to admit it, live in denial.
FAIL POST
but i'm sure there are things that come with their own stockings for $50/hour
There is a cluster of 7 year old siblings and cousins in my family, both boys and girls. I'd love to start a subtopic here on Christmas geek gifts available for this age group. One example: my son is asking for a Rock Polisher.
Seems to me like you can do an awful lot with the Arduino platform. I recommend buying from the Make guys, as you'll also see that they've published a book recently with the Arduino developers/creators that maybe your kid would like as a follow-on? They are only $30.00 and the only requirement is a computer to plug the thing into for programming. I'm asking my wife for one :-).
For project examples:
http://www.instructables.com/tag/?q=arduino&limit%3Atype%3Aid=on&type%3Aid=on&type%3Auser=on&type%3Acomment=on&type%3Agroup=on&type%3AforumTopic=on&sort=none
Just looking at this tonight: Horizon fuel cell's hydrogen r/c car kit and retrofit for larger models... http://www.horizonfuelcell.com/store/h2go.htm As a kid I loved building my own R/C cars, this would have been amazing to have!
I don't want to say the s-word, but after I bought something from ThinkGeek, they started sending me marketing emails. I don't recall being presented with a choice about whether to opt in or out of marketing emails when I made the purchase. It was UCE (unsolicited commercial email), but you could argue that I had already established a commercial relationship with them. All I can say is that personally, if I buy from an online retailer and then they send me ads via email, my personal decision is not to do business with that retailer again. One very practical reason is that once they send me ads, I'm going to blacklist them in my email filter, and that would make it difficult to do business again. I'm not accusing ThinkGeek of being evil criminals with handlebar moustaches or anything, but it's just like any other business -- if I don't find it pleasant to buy from them, then they've lost my business.
Find free books.
seriously. it's how I learned that kinetic energy varies directly to 1/2 the mass and to the square of the velocity.
and how rabbits deal with sucking chest wounds and uncompensated hypovolemic shock.
dealing with sights and optics taught me about angles in degrees and minutes-of-angle and how they work with customay measurements and created triangles of horizontal trajectories. (there's mils for the same thing in metric).
dealing with virticle trajectory taught me about objects falling toward the center of the earth at 1/2 gravity x (time squared) no matter how fast they are going. and how quadrant is measured to compensate for various co-efficient's of drag and velocities/grains of bullets.
plus all the responsibility, maintenance, cleaning, and stuff. it was probably the best thing I got at 13. it sparked my interest in science and showed me how physics and math is integral in EVERYTHING you do.
THL phish sticks
As much as I like ThinkGeek, their selection is limited to gadgets. I found that assembling and -- to my parents dismay -- disassembling things are what really grabbed my interest.
I would take a look at the various kits from American Science & Surplus. There are a number of other sites (e.g., Carl's Electronics) which have even more kits, but I haven't ordered from them so I can't say whether they're worthwhile or not. (These days, most of my toys come from DigiKey, and not in kit form.)
It's not cheap, but these are pretty intense toys. You learn a lot about magnetics, geometry, structure, and much much more. By far the best toy I've ever seen. You need a lot of them. Good for all ages. And much stronger and safer than the inferior knockoff brands (like Magnetix).
Don't get all the random panels and stuff; just balls and rods.
You'll be amazed by what some people have built from these things. How tall a tower can you build? How long of an unsupported span? Etc.
Assuming sufficient and sufficiently geeky parental involvement, there are lots of cool things from United Nuclear. http://www.unitednuclear.com/
A collection of the smaller magnets and some ferrofluid are a pretty good combination. Ferrofluid has aproximatly the same danger and potential for mess as old engine oil, so depending on the kid you might need to supervise it. A variety of magnets also add variety to a ROMP set. http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp?eid=EID02&pn=3082172
You might also try throwing some mechanical puzzles at him. One that I particularly like can be found at http://stores.brilliantpuzzles.com/-strse-212/Internal-Combustion-Metal-Puzzle/Detail.bok but there are many.
Buy him one of those $30 helicopters with 3 channels. It is quite clever to really understand what make it spin one way or another, the role of trimmer and conservation of angular momentum. Be prepared to waste lots of money on batteries, though.
"It's very open-ended, all-natural, the perfect price -- there aren't any rules or instructions for its use," said Christopher Bensch, the museum's curator of collections. I'm willing to bet that a greener toy doesn't exist.
When I was that age, which was about 10 years ago, I built my first computer. I was also tinkering with the infamous 'bread board' circuit test beds and random resistors and chips that I could get my hands on.
I would have loved to have a subscription to something so amazing as the Make Magazine at that time. It has some amazing bits in it about almost anything that I could ever have wanted to do or make. Besides that, it would have allowed me to find out about some crazier things to do in your own kitchen or garage to make something fun long before I would have played with it at school or college.
All in all, I can't recommend Make Magazine highly enough.
Communism will never work. People LIKE to own things.
it is a great way to get creative and it teaches basic programming skills
A 13 year old boy... it doesn't matter if he is geeking or not, 13 year old is THE perfect age for some good wholesome porn.
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
Model rockets are still pretty amazing, and pretty cheap. Just keep the engines until you're ready to use them. I would have killed for a radio controlled helicopter as a kid, and they're darned affordable these days.
For video games, Mindrover is still a programming and logic classic.
The ______ Agenda
This is super-super easy. I'm trying to avoid ad-hominem attacks on your geekiness.
Electronics Kit.
or
Chemistry Kit.
or
Toolbox full of basic carpentry and mechanic hand-tools.
Plus cold-hard cash for materials and an equivalent donation to his college fund if you are a relative and not the parents.
A college-level physics, chemistry, or engineering 101 type book could be inspirational too.
Don't forget lots and lots and lots of one-on-one time working together. Best gift my parents ever gave me.
Since you are a geek, and I'm lazy, I'll let you do the googling instead of linking to specific kits and advice.
obviously no deficiencies vs. no obvious deficiencies
-A USB key for his p0rn (you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he will discover it).
-get all the relatives to buy various pieces of Lego Mindstorm for him
-RF scanner (hours of entertainment to keep him away from p0rn)
-$50 gift card for MicroCenter/Frys, let him get what he wants.
the very best mechanical- and engineering-oriented building sets are still Fischer Technik (sometimes spelled here with no space). Made in Germany for decades, and still being made with new kits updated all the time, Herr Fischer designed the best engineering building blocks on the market today. They are still being made, and are often used by universities for mechanical and computer engineering projects.
These kits make Lego Technics and Erector building sets -- even the new ones -- look like, well, child's play. But they are not cheap.
You can often find used Fischer Technik kits on ebay, some of them 30 years old, for sale at a good price. Even at 30, if they are not abused they are quite usable. (I know, because I bought some and use them.) Unlike some other building sets, there is no shortage of replacement or add-on parts.
There are sets that go from basic building, like bridges and little toy push cars, to electric motors and pneumatic controls (compressor, air tank, air pistons, etc.!), R/C vehicles, and all the way up to computer control with feedback. The main direct-buy sites in the U.S. are: http://www.fischertechnik.com/ and http://www.studica.com/Fischertechnik/ but don't forget to look on eBay.
You will not be disappointed by the quality.
AND... you might also enjoy this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmYDgncMhXw
I don't know if Radio Shack still sells them, but back in the day before they started pushing cell phones, they were an electronics store, and sold howto booklets and kits for building relatively simple hobbiest electronics. I remember my dad got me one that showed how to build an infrared transmitter/decoder. I won my eighth grade science fair with it showing that it was possible to transmit radio signal through infrared light and convert it back to audio. I think the hillbillies in the town I grew up in might have thought me to be a wizard Anyway, back to the point. It was one of the cooler things I'd ever gotten as far as gadgets come, because it required me to understand how it worked. Simpler projects (if you don't think a 13 year old should be soldering) might include a roll your own AM radio.
Support the EFF and Creative Commons. The war is coming, and they're supporting you...
When I was a kid I enjoyed the Radio Shack electronics kits. I have not seen them recently, but they can be built rather easily with a piece of thin plywood and a bunch of nuts and bolts, plus the actual electronics which can be culled from scrap equipment. There are ample schematics on the web for building anything from simple radios to logic gates to metal detectors. Once they've been prototyped on the kit they can be built for a few dollars worth.
If you want to go the programming route, there are a few cheap boards out there. They're not very powerful, but good enough to run Linux, serve web pages, control lights, etc.. At 13 he's old enough to learn programming too :D
When I was a kid I loved my 50-in-One Electronics Kit from Rat Shack. They still make some kits: Electronics Learning Lab although I don't know if a 13-year-old would care as much as a 10-year-old.
Here's their kit category: http://www.radioshack.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2032398
I see they have one that also includes a Basic Stamp. Or maybe it would better complement an Arduino.
John
If you have a ton of old hard drives laying around, break out the torx drivers and extract the magnets. The mirror-like surface of the platter is interesting, too.
Physics, electronics, aerodynamics, all rolled into one.
or all the parts to build something from scitoys.com.
or, a basic set of hand tools, and the proper dad instruction on how to use them and build things.
My son, at age 9, found the plans for a basic platform hovercraft online.
"Ok, dude...here's the circular saw and a tape measure, let's go".
Bloody hell, do people actually READ the post before commenting? First someone posted a $150 item when he CLEARLY asked for sub $50 ones, and now this! A suggestion for a laser pointer where he said "For example, a small laser pointer keychain I bought him a couple of years ago still provides tons of entertainment. "
*sigh*
that the fischertechnik.com website is not exactly friendly to navigate. Try "products" under "Site Contents", then the subcategories in the bar along the top.
The way that you have described your child is about how I would have been described as a young lad. Since you asked...
I was given an erector set, had my parents understood, my use of it would have called for additions to it, but we didn't do things like that much back then. I have found that Lego technic and Mindstorms/robotics sets would have totally caught my attention back then.
In lieu of those, the old Radio Shack electronics experiments kits were 1000s of hours of fun. I did not then fully understand how a radio transmitter worked, but I did understand that it was possible to make one, they were not magic, and the components were not expensive nor complex things. A rudimentary understanding of logic and electronics formed then. It's all like a puzzle. Puzzle solving has rules so all you need to know is the rules and get some practice.
I was also the kid that took everything apart as soon as I got it so I would understand how it worked.
Looking back, anything that helps your kid understand how stuff works is probably a really good bet. Much of what I worked with allowed me to discover things about mechanical motions, electronics, physics, and math... even though I did not understand that is what I was doing at the time.
Magnets, magnifying glasses, telescopes, and some guidance to understand them faster than just playing around and waiting for school will teach him is the best bet.
In this day and age, you might want to let him help you put a computer together, explaining what he is curious about. No time like the present to start him off on that path.
Basically, everything has an explanation. Explain everything he asks about. I remember at the age of 5 asking why traffic lights had shades over them, then answering my question before he could tell me. For anyone that is inquisitive, explanations are as good as anything else can be, especially if you follow up with tools and toys that help him to build on that knowledge.
I've seen toys that allow you to build things like a double helix strand of DNA etc. but without explanation they are puzzles without rules, and those are no good as you can't understand how to play the game.
There is nothing stopping a child from designing a hybrid engine except knowledge and practice. I find that the Lego robotics kits mixed with technic parts allows you to experience hands-on a lot of mechanical systems, and how they produce motions. Not to sell Lego strongly but there are lots of opportunities there. You can build working engines, cranes, there are even ackerman steering parts. They have a lot of specialty parts that give you a lot of room to play and learn. There is eBay and bricklink for finding parts without having to buy whole sets, so support for continued use/learning is good.
If you can explain magnetism to him, you're probably going to be a very good teacher. That one is tough for people at any age. There is invisible stuff that just works... it's like magic.
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
We don't ask that you read the articles but what kind of drooling idiot can't even get to the end of the summary before being overwhelmed by a feverish desire to post something, anything, on Slashdot ?
No sig today...
I just clicked that link at work! You could have warned me at least!
On the same theme as the Levitron is the Levitating Globes. Small ones are $40.
Budding is not a natural process, even for the loneliest geek.
The Mirage optical illusion is pretty amazing. I have it, and a Levitron, and while they're both really amazing for a while, there's not a lot of stuff to keep doing with them.
Those electronics kits from Radio Shack and other places with the resistors, diodes, etc and little springs and wires to use for breadboarding are pretty cool and educational. If he actually digs into those, it's pretty cheap to buy a real breadboard and a power supply and a bunch of real components and he can start making real stuff. If he graduates beyond the lessons in the book that comes with the electronics kit, pick him up a copy of Horowitz and Hill's The Art of Electronics, and let him get started with real stuff.
I think they're over your price range, but Lego Mindstorms are great.
You can always get him started with elementary computer programming. If "real" languages seem too challenging, HyperCard is great for starting programming, especially since pretty soon you start to find stuff you want to do but can't, and then find out that HyperTalk is a real programming language that you can start adding in piecemeal to your project, gradually learning programming.
If there are local scout troops, building and racing Pinewood Derby cars can be great if you get serious about going for either style or speed.
A basic model rocketry kit can be fun. It's cool to see it launch.
There are lots of cool science related toys/kits/gadgets here.
Can anyone tell me how to set my sig on Slashdot?
Get him Chaos space marines and let him assemble, and paint them, and read the chapters.
He will be better off for it!
Blood for the blood god!
I know board games don't leap to mind, but check out some of the recent German games.
(I assume you can google these. Trust me, it's worth it)
Settlers of Catan
Carcassonne
Ticket to Ride (extra points for spotting the mistake in the game)
Puerto Rico
San Juan
Yes, these are just games, but they also aren't the garden variety he-with-the-best-luck-wins type of games. Settlers, a little bit, but the rest are intense strategy games. You may not be learning math or physics, but there's just as much value in reading people, long-term planning and anticipating others' actions. Sure, these aren't as tangible, but they're also real-world skills.
I know you've already been through ThinkGeek, but the Cuboro marble sets, if they still have them, continue to fascinate me.
Oh, and magnets. Magnets rock.
One more thing: Old cameras. If he likes to take stuff apart and put it back together, plus learn about optics and light, buy him an old film camera. Look up Canon AE-1 on eBay. Add in a few cheap lens and he'll be able to dissect the camera and examine all the lenses, mirrors, gears and everything. Easily under $50.
Tons of geek toys at Gizmodo.com. I'll have one of each.
--
make install -not war
I enjoyed two particular things a lot. The first one was any kind of experimentation kit, i.e. for building simple electronic circuits, or a chemistry experimentation set, etc.
However, the other thing that was really a lot of fun and very instructional is being given something valuable that just happens to be broken - but hey, I could fix it after I learned enough about how it works! A good example might be an video projector (be careful with the high voltage and temperature), a cleaning robot that broke down, or any other high tech gadget that cost a fortune yesterday but is only modestly valuable now.
Another suggestion that's cool is to wire up your pet, i.e. with the CAT-CAM (battery operated mini digital camera that snaps one photo every minute and documents where your cat roams), or maybe GPS tracking for your cat or dog. The hardware to do this should be quite cheap now, i.e. just buy a small battery-operated GPS logger on ebay.
Last suggestion: Go to Fry's and buy the toy you would like most, then give it to your kid.
Nothing says love like using an enormous amount of electricity to wirelessly light a flourescent bulb
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing. Emo Philips
http://www.kosmos-shop.de/Shop/Kosmos/index.cfm
- Chemistry
- Electronics
- Physics
- Microscopy
- Crystal Growth
Sadly, they all are a bit expensive.
A microscope was my most beloved science toy when I was young. The low cost ones aren't lab-grade, but they work.
At age 13, the kid is starting to get old enough to do more than just play with gizmos - maybe it's time to start making them? I was building radio-shack springboard circuits when I was younger than that. Maybe an Arduino board would be appropriate - nobody has to know how to program to use it because there are lots of projects online, but it's a great way to get started tinkering with a hands-on implementation of code! I have a boarduino from Lady Ada. It's only about $25, that should leave you some extra $$ to spend on a breadboard, wire and maybe some other parts.
I have a Levitron and it's cool. Think I'd rather have a Diamagnetic Levitation Device at that age though. Plenty of plans to make your own. Fun project.
just consult this.
Want to improve your life? This guy will show you how!
Why not build a reprap (http://www.reprap.org) as a joint project? It's a 3d printer that can print 60% of its own parts. Version 2.0 Mendel will also print metal as well as plastic and will be capable of printing circuit boards. I'm sure it's a more interesting project than a lot of the little electronics kits but putting it together will teach a lot more than those kits as well.
I know it breaks the budget, but an electric guitar and amp is a dream for geeks. You can build most effects pedals as they are not all that complicated, there's the music element, the chicks, the drugs. plus you get to rock out. Honestly I learned as much about electronics from playing guitar and building effects pedals as I did building robots in FIRST Robotics competitions. http://www.smallbearelec.com/home.html has all the appropriate links.
If UKers are looking for similar ideas, http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/ has a myriad of sciency toys, and stupid stuff you know is completely stupid but you still want it anyway.
To do something right, you often have to roll up your sleeves and get busy.
I'd like to say a Mr. Wizard Chemistry Set, but those are impossible to find, and I'm not giving up mine.
I was looking at the science toys locally, and I'd be embarrassed(sp) to hand one to a kid. It's no fun if you don't risk injury.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
Get him a book on Haskell and tell him to get his ass in gear.
After all, I am strangely colored.
How about:
- A subscription to Make magazine
- A chemistry kit
- A Velleman Electronics kit (he could build a pong game or whatever else catches his interest)
- A robot kit from Parallax.com
- Build a crystal radio with him. Even cooler, build one out of household junk.
- A Digicomp mechanical computer.
Heck, rather than me writing a long list, you should visit the DIY section on my site It should give you a few dozen good ideas. Just be sure to drop me a line if you actually build an ALTAIR 8800, tube amplifier or homebuilt ultralight, though.
The Cucko's Egg
The Dangerous Book for Boys
There are multiple types of geekery, best to satisfy the possibilities.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
I actually received this email today http://www.thinkgeek.com/geek-kids/?cpg=81H from ThinkGeek and it looks like it could be aimed directly at you.
Stop coddling the boy. Give him some real tools to play with. An arduino, breadboard and a soldering iron should do the trick.
The drinking bird has always amused me for hours on end, and I do have ADD.
For a young geek nothing inspires more than:
- BB gun
- can of gasoline
- old plastic models
- illegal fireworks
- magnifying glass
- bag of army men
- hot wheels
- pile of bricks
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everybody agrees that it is old enough to know better." - Unknown
http://brainstationtoys.com/product/robo-rally-by-avalon-hill
This is total, geeky fun (and you can enjoy it, too!)
Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals... except the weasel. -
A Debian-based cross-development sandbox for a $50 USB key-sized Linux system, that is...
http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS6221127663.html
You might also be able to pick up a pair of cheap binocs for under $50. 7x50s are great for astronomy. The optics won't be anything to write home about and there will be some purple fringing but I have bought usable binocs for under $50. (Note: DO NOT buy a cheap department store telescope. I have seen some nasty nasty rubbish for $50).
You might be able to buy a cheap camera, but it'll be rubbish.
Good gadgets seem to start at around $200. At that price, you can look at a radio scanner, a GPS...something of that nature.. Also you haven't told us how old your son is.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
the best way to learn is to find a subject he is interested in, and foster it. being a 22 year old CS major, the most fondest memory i have is learning linux with my dad. but my favorite project was hacking my first xbox. i would have been unable to do it without my dads knowlege or my personal drive (and my parents xmas money). my point is, try to get him a project that he will want to do and will still let him learn. id recommend a projct taht he can "hack" cause it will teach him real engineering skills.
I'm guessing the username is a UHF reference.
If he doesn't have one yet. Preferably one with a proper locking blade.
How about a subscription to Make or Craft, backed by your commitment of time and money towards a project per issue?
obviously no deficiencies vs. no obvious deficiencies
I've seen some pretty bad ass USB microscopes that plug right into your computer and give you a better view then any of the stuff they had when I was growing up. Thinkgeek has one that is perhaps a little bit out of your price range but there are more basic ones available for cheaper.
This is something interesting for all types of sciencey stuff. Check out the effects of magnets at a microscopic level, etc.
or else!
~$200, but a Vex robot kit http://www.robotshop.ca/vexplorer-vexblue.html A vex robot or lego mindstorms kit is cheap when you factor in how many hours he'll use it and what he'll learn from it. The arduino boards mentioned above are also a good suggestion, but for books I'd start him out on Forrest Mims' electronics books and get a copy of Paul Scherz's "Electronics for Inventors" 2nd Ed. Horowitz and Hill's "The Art of Electronics" is a bit advanced for him.
United Nuclear has all sorts of fun little thing like this spinthariscope that let's you watch atom splitting. http://unitednuclear.com/spinthariscope.htm
or else!
Get him into some of the simple circuits he can build. A crystal radio is always a good one to start with. Either that or a simple shortwave setup. Then move on to some BEAM robots or other cool DIY kits.
When I saw this article I immediately realized I played with all of the toys you listed as a child. Some other toys in the same vein I enjoys as kid are:
-Illusion mirrors
-Plasma ball
-Juggling sticks
-Juggling (takes more time and patience)
How about a microcontroller kit with an LCD screen, breadboard (no soldering), and a C compiler? That's what they've got over at NerdKits, supported by a detailed instructional guide. Probably could use some parental assistance too. :-)
I remember waking up from (then fashionable) tonsil surgery to be given a pull-string gyroscope, over which I went batshit.
This web site is perfect for inquisitive teens:
http://scitoys.com/
It's crazy cool. He shows you how to make your own working spectroscope with a box, a CD, two razor blades, and some tape!
The guy who put up that site has written some actual paper books, so you could give one or more of those. Or, just order some magnets and diffraction gratings and such for building the gadgets, from the catalog:
https://www.scitoyscatalog.com/
I really wish I could have had access to that web site when I was 13. Oh, well... at least I have access now!
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Science in Make is ambient - it doesn't hit you over the head.
My attempt to encourage science is the Open Source Hardware <Shameless-plug> High-Speed Photography Kit Version 4</Shameless-plug>
It's nothing you can't build yourself.
Try the GYROSCOPE, this is a neat gadget, it cost 10$-20$ in any science shop, planetarium. Also, you may try rocks, all kinds of rocks, ferrite, etc. These do not cost much.
That helicopter video clip was incredible. Thanks for posting the link.
Seth
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
2. Dowels--- that fit in the pegs..
3. magnets-- get a 25 or 50 pack of small magnets (consider a few with dowel sized holes).
4. mirrors-- minature... harvest a disco ball.
5. string--
6. DC motors.. the dinky cheap kind that come in cheap toys.
7. prisms.. small is fine.. get geometric shapes triangles-- squares.
8. cheap speakers.. harvest a junk clock radio or 8.
9. glue
10 small springs.
Anyway.. with the laser in hand you can do a bunch of stuff with this setup.. Laser-> mirror mounted on spring mounted on speaker will make a neat wall pattern.. then try without spring.
Make a magnet spring-- shock absorber by repelling magnets down a dowel..
Recombine laser light after splitting it with a prism.
Cover the dowels with slurpee straws. and make a pully system.
This rig is expandable, cheap, and involving enough that I'd play with it..
Storm
But based on the videos http://www.theneocube.com/ is an interesting option.
.: Max Romantschuk
Got that cube-ish puzzle one Xmas. After some study and fiddling, disassembled it in 5 moves. Hadn't paid enough attention the first time so I had difficulty reassembling it, and consulted the included destructions (*shame*). Discovered it's supposed to be done in about 12 moves, but the clever assembler in the (probably) Chinese factory had discovered how to git-r-dun quicker.
"Clever girl..."
I'm probably not one of the first million people to come up with this idea, but a wiimote can be used as a hook to get the target audience interested (if they like it, of course).
And you can bring home the point that there's a lot of science made manifest in the engineering around us all the time.
What I have been waiting for is a dirt cheap (and safe of course) Tesla coil. I don't honestly know what the absolute minimum one could be built for is but everytime I've researched it, it was out of my budget. Has anyone a story or low low price strategy they want to share?
In addition: explain how one can build an altimeter from an accelerometer of a known mass by using Newton's laws of gravity. Explain that the wiimote is too coarse-grained to measure the difference between ocean level and the peak of mount everest.
If I remember my calculations right, it might juuuust be feasible to measure the difference between the deepest ocean and the tallest mountain (here on earth, of course), but you need a very steady hand to pick up the difference. It'll be lost in noise.
There is a lot of cool stuff at grand-illusions.com.
It's fascinating how the folks replying here leap from 'interested in simple toys' to 'means he should be given complex construction project sets'.
"Interested in toys" != "interested in being a geek" and decidely != "is interested in complex things bearing no relationship beyond geek street cred to what he has so far demonstrated interest in".
...buy him some time on the LHC for christmas
yay for fischertechnik!
I've got most of the sets and could cover my whole floor in this stuff while searching for parts.
really one of the best building sets ever.
Drive around to a couple of thrift stores or garage sales and pick up a couple interesting appliances he can take apart, give the boy a box of nuts and bolts and some tools and let him go to town.
YMMV, but when I was that age, returning home to find a new appliance on my workbench was like a tiny Christmas.
Buy a set of small tools ( including all the 'security' type screwdriver bits), and get a load of dead consumer electronics from friends & neighbours etc. and encourage him to take stuff apart, figure out how it works, try to fix stuff etc. A subscription to Make magazine would also be good.
London Science Museum shop http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/shoponline.aspx
May be unusual stuff, may be stuff you can get near you, but if Dad got it sent From Abroad...
Of such things is Street Cred made.
"Cock Up Your Beaver" does not mean what you think. This sig is intended to clog filters and annoy do-gooders
I heard this great story from a friend of mine; his grandfather sent him a tool box filled with broken clocks. That's it. Best gift ever!
As a kid, I had lots of internal drive; I was into model rockets and building my own toys and even a full-size R2 robot. But the basic foundation which allowed this was my Dad having introduced me to do-it-yourselfmanship. Give your son tools. Heck, set up a work shop in the house, and build things yourself; kids emulate, and plus you'll have fun. My father would re-model rooms and build walls and decks and all kinds of cool stuff. He was really good at it, too, and he'd explain what he was doing while doing it if I asked.
Pre-packaged science toys are neat, and I went through a few of them, but they also stream-line a kid's awareness; make them think that knowledge comes in shrink-wrapped, consumer packaging. Pre-packaged reality is for the sheep, and it teaches a subtle lesson in dependence on the system rather than giving them the confidence to work, literally, outside the box in the real world.
One of the ways my father got my mind ticking was when I started pining for a pinball machine, clearly well beyond my pocket allowance budget. My dad said, "Well, heck. Let's build one."
So we did. And it was lame. --My Dad thought pinball was about trying to launch marbles into little holes. We did build a cool wooden table which was the right shape using a jig-saw, and he came up with a neat spring-loaded plunger, but I wanted electronic bumpers and blinking lights and such. So on my own steam, I visited electronic parts stores in search of various bits and pieces to create my vision. I learned about basic electronics and how to rectify AC current by bugging the shop owners with lots of newbie questions, etc. It led to a half-assed pinball machine, but it was still pretty cool for my age, and I learned a ton. --But none of that would have been possible if my Dad hadn't taught me how to use a soldering iron and power tools. He had given me the confidence to know that humans are smart and that with an inventive mind, you can do almost anything.
If I were you, I'd take your son to public science fairs and rocketry clubs and robotics clubs and whatnot. Stuff to fire the imagination. Also be sure to introduce him to the wonderful world of surplus electronic parts stores.
But above all. . .
Tools.
Buy tools and show him how they work, how to respect them. Build a decent work bench. Set it up with a good, solid vice. Lead by example. Build some awesome projects around the house, and make getting the tools a part of the game. In short, be an empowered geek. While pre-packaged stuff is fine sometimes, never let it dominate. Don't let other people do it for you if you can avoid it, because building stuff yourself is half the fun. This attitude will help your son in life in ways you can't even imagine!
-FL
Try a Crookes Radiometer. I got one for about $15 at the planetarium in Chicago.
How else do you explain this post on the same day I get a mail from Thinkgeek on the opening of their little geek section (or whatever they call it)
So the geeks are growing up and reproducing now? Sheesh I remember when they couldn't get a date to save their lives. (I still can't but I shan't bore you with the details)
http://www.verycoolthings.com/ has these great science kits from Japan. Made by Gakken, the instructions are (mostly) in Japanese (a few of the ones I bought have downloadable English instructions, but not all), BUT they are well-illustrated and usually very easy to follow. Plus most of the kits are around $30 (before shipping, which is a flat $6.99).
http://www.verycoolthings.com/vct/Neo_getpage.cgi?search=kagaku+magazine&page=listtype
(you can also just search on Gakken for more results, including some expensive ones like a metal Stirling engine and some electronic blocks kits)
One caveat: While this site has better prices than the few other US sites that carry these kits, beware that the ones marked 'ships in 30 days' have taken more like 2-3 months to arrive (for me, at least). I've gotten the '12-day' ones I ordered within 2 weeks without problem.
ALSO, they have Totoro desk calendars from Studio Ghibli, one of which I couldn't resist buying. Not scientific, just cute. :)
Have you looked at a cold soldering iron? I find it a little annoying to work with, but I keep one in my woodshop, because one thing you don't want to have in a room filled with wood shavings is something with a temperature of over 500 degrees that takes more than a second to cool down. Might be just the thing for child. ThinkGeek stocks them.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/giftsunder20/69d3/
Take a look at the FanSee. It's a very cool product (no paronomasia intended). I guess though it being winter and all, it's probably not at the top of anyone's list right now. The manufacturer, Fascinations Toys & Gifts, has a bunch of other cool stuff. Anyway, I purchased a few things off InnovaToys about a week ago for some gifts because they carry all the Fascinations products. InnovaToys has a lot of really interesting stuff though they don't have a very large selection. I purchased the following product from them and plan to return for some of my Christmas shopping:
FanSee
AntWorks
Levitron AG
Faucet Light
Clocky Alarm Clock
Also, I'd have to say I was impressed by the InnovaToys customer service. I needed my shipment to ship out to one of 2 different addresses depending on the day it was suppose to arrive at my door, so I requested someone to contact me. Anyway, I was surprised when the guy in the warehouse called me up to confirm the address he was shipping to. Great support in my opinion! Don't think you can get that from most companies.
Scott
I've been drooling over Thinkgeek's toys since i have first discovered the site a couple of years ago. The problem from my point of reference in space is that i can't order anything from them since they do not deliver in Romania. Now does anyone know of any site that is like the aforementioned one that does deliver to other countries except USA? ( including Romania ? )
USB Powered Plasma Globes!
I know when I was growing up I had a chemistry set from the discovery channel store. It was a fold out set with pipets, a small beaker, some non-toxic chemicals for the included experiment manual, and some other stuff. This appears to be close to what I had, but sans fold-out case: http://shopping.discovery.com/product-60266.html?endecaSID=11D909851918
Another thing I had for a while was a magic kit. It was a large box with assorted tricks. My parents got it from Costco. While I'm not sure if your son likes magic, Costco/Sams Club/BJ's Warehouse has a bunch of seasonal toys that may be up his alley.
You said "anything magnetic", so how about a big box of Geomag? You know, magnets and steel balls, you can put together in lots of ways. Like building a truncated icosahedron. Or a levitating bridge, connected only at one end (to keep it in place with north poles over north poles and south over south), and using magnetic repulsion to keep the other end up.
Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest.
Mohandas Gandhi
Ghandi used non-violence against the British because the Brits were basically moral people, and the strategy was clearly successful.
He knew quite well that non-violence was an unwise strategy in many real circumstances.
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be the name of a store, not a government agency.
I dunno about thirteen or seven years olds, but I'm middle-aged and I want a Rovio!
There's a lot of unique nerdy toys at this site:
http://www.grand-illusions.com/
Some expensive, but quite a few under $50. A whole magnet section just for your son!
I can't get circuits right the first time, even when I'm being paid to build them. That's what breadboards are for.
Can anyone think of a good reason why wire wrap seems to have become so unpopular / less popular?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_wrap
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
If he likes lava lamps and lights, the plasma mug is a winner. Here's a link to a review for one. http://youbentmywookie.com/columns/cubicle-columns/the-plasma-mug-868 You can get that off of Think Geek. I think its in the $20 - $30 range so its a great stocking stuffer. Enjoy! And welcome your kid to the Geek Army for me!
.. then all he needs right now is a shark.
When I was thirteen, my favorite toy was gasoline. Yes, just plain old gasoline... and some tennis balls... and glass containers... and some old bedsheets or towels... and a can of Off insect repellent... and a Bic lighter.
Just some simple petrol-based toys for simple rural fun, and, no, I was not a budding Ted Kazinski (or however you spell his name).
Go [http://www.usgo.org]
-SaNo
Having learned more from scrap parts obtained from dumpster diving behind the telephone company, I'd recommend a cheap pallet of surplus computer parts from places such as propertyroom.com. I got three working nice panasonic cf-48s for $50 with one good battery and hard drive, so two backups for parts/experimentations.
They have pallets of towers and servers that regularly go for less than $5.00, if you are close to the sites and can pickup the pallet load.
Of course the will all be past tense, since nobody knows about this, but hay, this the season!
Wire wrap worked about a thousand years ago, when we could build semi-credible systems operating at or below 10 MHz. (An example is my homebuilt, wire-wrapped Z-80 on an STD-bus sized board...)
Since then, edge rates have become quick enough that physical design is a priority in all but the slowest of modern designs.
PCI for example, uses additive reflection of signals due to the intentionally unterminated bus.
Of course for PIC, 8051 family or similar low speed systems, wire-wrap would be perfectly fine.
I was just looking at the propeller kit in a mint box at thinkgeek last night. I was thinking about getting it for my daughter, but now I think I may look at arduino first.
AccountKiller
Wow, this site sucks. Try the english section of the german site.
Truth arises more readily from error than from confusion. -Francis Bacon
Why would you hate to admit it? Oh,you're incapable of writing your own introductory sentence. I get it.
My father never thought that I would become a geek when he gave to me some little cars and stuff, the point was that I started to dissasemble them and started to create awful monsters and weird motion devices, just give him standar toys, screwdrivers and lock them alone for a couple hours, you will be surprised!!!!
build a jacobs ladder.
Its the thing in frankenstein movies that sparks.
All you need is a furnace transformer.
Probably $50 ebay.
Way cool, pretty safe.
-jim
Those are my two favorite types of toys.
For magnets, I like K&J Magnetics.
For flashlights, I've ordered but not yet received some seriously bright small flashlights from Fenix.
Lasers are a subclass of flashlights to me, and you already have that covered.
Velleman makes some really cool DIY kits for cheap. Pick him up a couple of kits, a soldering iron, and some solder.
I know as a kid I would have really loved building my own clock, or metal detector, or LED chaser.
Oh, who am I fooling. I would love building that stuff today, too. Maybe I'll have to stuff my own stocking this year.
The main direct-buy sites in the U.S. are: http://www.fischertechnik.com/
The goggles! They do nothing!
You will not be disappointed by the quality.
Mostly from the diminished expectations induced by that site.
You could teach him to play pool. If you search online for "physics of pool" or something similar, you'll see a lot of different papers on how it should work. It's fun to play, and you can definitely see quick improvement after a little while (I personally enjoyed seeing progress when I was a kid).
Also, it doesn't fit in your stocking, but it could be good quality time to spend together somewhere.
The trick would now be to find a place to play pool that ISN'T a bar. Growing up, my local arcade had video games, putt-putt, and pool...I don't think there's too many places like that anymore :(
scientificsonline.com
I always get educational toys for my nieces and nephews here, from drinking birds (classic) to light-sensitive robot kits. This year their getting brew-you-own root beer, a working electric engine kit, hand boilers . . . the trouble is limiting it. There are plenty of things not to expensive.
How about having him build a 6" dobsonian telescope?
Simple plans and parts can be had at prices to fit your budget. He learns something, uses his hands, and has a useful tool when done. Win, win, win. - j
How about a GP2X?
Need an automatic screenshot taker? Try here.
I know this is beyond your target budget, but that was about the age that I purchased my first graphing calculator. It was a simple TI-83 or similar, but I read the manual from cover to cover and tried to learn to exploit every macro, graphing, solving, and programming feature it had... something that would have been next to impossible on, say, a full-blown PC with mathematics software. I spent a lot of time playing with it on the bus or in class trying to get it to do interesting things, and while I didn't end up an excellent assembly programmer or anything, it really did help me think about and grasp a lot of the calculus, physics, and algebra I had to tackle later on, and made a lot of tedious homework a snap as I programmed a small library of simple functions to do stuff for various classes.
Get the Dynaflex Powerball that glows and has a counter. that'll provide great entertainment as your child tried to beat his prior best RPM.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
How about studying for a ham radio license together?
I'm skeptical about the article (even though I didn't read it). I think somebody just sold their company and is now attempting to go back and re-geek-out their own childhood. They are just soliciting all of the ideas and fun things other /.'ers did when they were little and are going to make a massive Fry's run. (Hint to all non-millionaire /. readers, buy stock in Fry's)
I wouldn't be surprised if we see another story in about 6 months detailing the largest technik/lego/rare earth magnet/ landing platform for a RC helicopter that is controlled by a Commodore64 connected to a breadboard and a 300 in one Radio Shack Electronics set. This structure will have BB gun turrets as well as a special "chamber" designed specifically for playing Dungeons and Dragons.
When I have a kid, I want to put him in one of those strollers for twins and then run around the mall looking frantic.
I really like the pocket-sized Russian Geiger counter I bought off the eBays a couple of years back for under $50. It gives off a reassuring click anytime you come near anything remotely radioactive. It even clicks when hit by stray cosmic rays. Here's a current auction for one like mine:
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-RADIATION-DOSIMETER-DRSB-01-Geiger-Counter_W0QQitemZ310098505503
Of course, you'll also need something radioactive to detect. I suggest a bit of uranium from United Nuclear:
http://www.unitednuclear.com/
Serving your airship needs since 1995.
As a child, I got lot's of old TV's and radios from the town dump to use as parts for my childhood electronics hobby.
Or, go on craigslist and put in an ad:
Wanted: Old TV's and radios. Budding scientist badly needs raw materials. We will come and pick them up from you. Call . . . . .
Cleara
Try www.physlink.com (for physics geeks)
Their shopping link is actually www.xump.com, lots of small experiments and gadgets, would be good for grade school and high school teachers.
- I live the greatest adventure anyone could possibly desire. - Tosk the Hunted
Get him a decent DMM a soldering iron and a couple of kits.
a cheap arduino kit and a breadboard and a few fun parts are a GREAT start.
you can get a decent DMM at harbor freight for $29.00. Ardunio kits are $17.00 and a cheapie breadboard is under $10.00
all these toys recommended up there simply would insult a 13 year old geek.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
When I was younger, I think I did a lot more pleasure reading than my peers. I'd give any budding geek a subscription to Make Magazine. It's a quarterly, but there's a lot of neat info packed into each issue that run through a spectrum if interests. http://makezine.com/
BTM
That was the turning point of my life--I went from negative zero to positive zero.
This: http://cgi.ebay.com/Magnetic-Sculpture-Kit-Neodymium-Magnets_W0QQitemZ230030516350QQcmdZViewItemQQptZBuilding_Toys?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116
Here's a link I found recently to a couple of magnet sets that look like they might be a lot of fun:
NeoCube and CyberCube Neodymium Magnet Sets review
Both the NeoCube and CyberCube sets are under $50, and there are videos online you can check out to see the sort of things you can do with them...
I use them for wires and such, but I've read that using them on sensitive electronic parts is bad. The tips are also quite large compared to even a cheap Radio Shack iron.
For a 6 year old, breadboards are fine. The kid probably wants to use it because he sees daddy using it and it looks interesting. I learned to solder at about 8 though, so it's not like it's impossible. :)
As a youth, all of my snow shoveling and lawn mowing money was spent at The American Science Center on Northwest Highway in Chicago.
It now has a new location and name, American Science and Surplus. This store has all of the pre-packaged gadgety gizmos the commercial science stores have, plus surplus electronic and mechanical equipment to use in more creative projects.
It was the fault of this store that I ended up majoring in Physics. I know many other kids that ended up being engineers and scientists because of the projects that this store supplied the hardware to make. Chemistry, Physics, Biology, electronics, mechanical; whatever your interest this place has the material you need to explore it!
If the kid is interested in computers, micros are awesome. Audrino is great. PIC based systems are fun too. The UBW is a great little USB board that is very easy to use. And you don't need a programming device to use it. A breadboard and a basic microcontroller board with a bag of misc components would be great fun for a kid with an interest in such subjects. :)
Soldering, well, no time like the present to learn. Get a ratshack 15W iron, some solder and some simple perfboards and such. Practice on junk components to get the hang of it, and off he goes.
Second the microscope. Even the el cheapos encourage exploration.
A whole collection of observation instruments would be good: microscope, good hand-held magnifying glass, good pair of binoculars, and a decent telescope.
Oh, and a nice notebook to keep notes in. I love the one with squared pages.
Potato chips are a by-yourself food.
Yeah those are great. From that and the Hostess cupcakes I realize now how much mom loved me.
I still have my kit from the 70's, pre-Lego Technics. Even the motor and power supply still works.
The other day got them out and fulfilled my childhood aspiration of figuring out how to mechanically interface FischerTechnik with Lego. I'm expecting the rest of my life to be downhill.
The Atmel AVR Butterfly is a $20 microcontroller on a board intended to be an introduction to AVR microcontrollers or microcontrollers in general. Low cost of entry, plenty of real world I/O (temp sensor, LCD, speaker, light sensor, ADC) and easy to program (free tool-chain, including gcc C compiler). Available from Digi-Key or Mouser online.
Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments from O'Reilly and Make-zine. Check out the author's associate website, HomeChemLab including their small but friendly and supportive forum.
Finally, for free, teach the lessons that freedom comes with the price of responsibility, and that knowledge and understanding are powerful (physics jokes aside) tools. Also honesty and integrity, include admitting to making mistakes and being unsure are valuable currency for building a reputation that can lead to being trusted (and respected). And that it is okay to be curiosity (though sometimes some tact is also needed). -- My parent's tolerance and patience were important factors in developing my good "geekiness" qualities, so I encourage an environment that is supportive not punitive about failure (mistakes).
"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." - Albert Einstein
I had a copy of FreeBSD and Caldera OpenLinux at 13 and a junk computer. Combined with misc breadboards, power supplys, and a myriad of wires and electronics parts I've been entertaining myself ever since (10ish years later). I would say a junk computer or two and maybe a good guide for installing/using a free *nix.
An official Red Ryder two hundred shot carbine action Range Model air rifle with a compass and a thing which tells time built right into the stock.
Other people have answered the "gadget" part of the question better than I can, so I'll pretend I'm a good Slashdotter who didn't read the summary carefully.
1. Fiddling around with things doesn't get you very far without learning the theoretical tools to help you reason about the systems you build. The kid needs math and physics books! Books that teach theory through problems are lots of fun. Some of these are disguised as puzzle books or problem books, but a straight-up problem book (with no theory or exposition) would be too frustrating on its own. All my favorites are sitting neglected on the bookshelves at my parent's house, so unfortunately I can't recommend any.
2. Pop science is pretty good for kids, because it can actually be challenging and educational. (I'm not a big fan of pop science for adults; it's deceptively gratifying.) He'll find those on his own if you just let him loose in a good bookstore.
3. If the kid is a budding geek, you might as well give him a head start on the things he'll find challenging, as well as the things that will come easily to him. You know, how to deal with slippery stuff that can't be defined and figured out, such as people, emotions, and poorly defined ideas like "honesty" and "democracy." For that you just need to give him some toys that aren't fun to use alone (such as sports gear) and some unsupervised time with other kids.
It didn't look like this did it?
Snap Circuits may be a good primer for electronics. The parts are relatively durable and, though not as flexible as a breadboard, offer more structured control of the circuits. It is closer to putting together a puzzle than electrical engineering.
Open source gadget construction kit.
http://buglabs.net/
from the site:
BUG is a collection of easy-to-use electronic modules that snap together to build any gadget you can imagine. Each BUGmodule represents a specific gadget function (ex: a camera, a keyboard, a video output, etc.). You decide which functions to include and BUG takes care of the rest, letting you try out different combinations quickly and easily. With BUG and the integrated programming environment/online community (BUGnet), anyone can build, program and share innovative devices and applications. We don't define the final products - you do.
But not too cheap. Don't buy anything under $50.
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
I wanted to ask the Slashdot crowd what were some other really neat, interesting gadgets?
Girls. Girls are really, really interesting gadgets, especially to a young teenage boy.
I can't believe this hasn't been mentioned yet.
I wanted to ask the Slashdot crowd
Oh wait, that explains it.
I can't vouch for it yet, but what I'm buying myself for the holidays is
model stirling engine;
http://www.stirlingengine.com/ecommerce/product.tcl?product_id=87
It's 49$ (3 for 100$) not including the coffee mug or ice. The better model will run on hand heat.
A runnerup choice was the ultimate dreidel or top that will spin for
http://www.quirkle.com/top/index.htm
A long time ago I read (or at least viewed) some very nice french books called "Tom Tit", probably dating to the first decades of the 1900's. They had all sorts of geeky experiments you could do with household items: egg shells, bottles, cups, cork stoppers, saucers, straws. Very, very entertaining and instructive. Days on end working out and designing new experiments.
The less elaborate a contraption is, the more field is left for imagination. And consequently, the most fun.
There must be some updated books of the style. Edmund Scientific had some of these, and a lot of geeky stuff, more scientific than ThinkGeek.
If you find something at Thinkgeek, you might be able to find it for $15 less at Amazon or some other retailer.
When I was 13 I would have loved to get one of these.
I thought about buying it for my cousin, but she is still way too young.
Some cans, lighter fluid, duct tape, and a potato.
Leave them alone for 30 minutes. If they don't have a potato gun when you return, you probably don't have a geek.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
It's not the religious nuts. It's the "think of the children" nuts.
When I was a kid I loved my radio shack 50-in-one kit, my chemistry set, my bicycle, and kites. Kites are what I'm mostly still playing with today. You can do a lot of experimenting with kites for cheap.
My brother and I built what was for us a huge kite from trash bags and fiberglass poles from bicycle flags. We built a wind-powered ferry to tow Stinkor and Man-E-Faces up the kite line and drop them with parachutes.
Older kids might be more interested in something like kite aerial photography. You can definetly build a kite and rig for this with disposable cameras for under $50.
A great gadget is the Stirling Engine Kit (http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/9e84/) from ThinkGeek. This type of engine runs on heat differences. Once assembled, this engine will run equally well on either a hot cup of coffee or a cold bowl of ice. Itâ(TM)s a great learning tool.
My son, the 10-year-old budding geologist, found a sledgehammer while we were visiting a friend's newly-constructed house. It had apparently been left in the recesses of the backyard by the contractors. My son asked if he could keep it, and my friend gave it to him.
Now, I'm well aware that a 10-year-old and a sledgehammer sound like a pretty stupid idea. I actually expected that the sledgehammer would just go into the bottom of my toolbox and get forgotten.
No such luck, I'm afraid.
I now have a 10-year-old boy with his own personal sledgehammer. Hours and hours of enjoyment, but so far no problems. He only gets access to it when I am around, and he wears safety goggles when using it. He uses it to break open rocks to look for fossils.
Sigh. So far, the wife has not killed me.
A toy call "Snap Circuits" is for younger kids, kind of a cross between tinker toys and a electric circuit kit. The pieces just snap together. Amazon says ages 8 and up, but I think you could go several years younger. My son had a blast with super-strong rare earth magnets, as well.
you meant "on gear", right?
I know tobacco is bad for you, so I smoke weed with crack.
Check this out. I think I'd have loved that at 13 (had a Sinclair ZX81 at that age), and it's very appealing even today, though I don't think I'll have the time to play with it seriously, so haven't bought it. There's a site for this (mentioned on that page) with extra games and apps with source code.
Actually, the German site pretty much sucks, too. Not as badly as the US site... the loud sucking sound is at least bearable... but in my opinion as a professional web developer, the German site is not much better. There is more information available, and more pictures, but the site design and navigation are terrible, and so are the pictures.
Gifts for the Geek Kid:
Magnets: A good source for large bar magnets is your local vet, one that does large animal work. Feed a cow a bar magnet, and it grabs the bits of bailing wire that seem to find their way into feed. They are heavy enough they stay in the cows first stomach.
Lee Valley Tools (www.leevalley.com) has rare earth magnets in various sizes.
Get a cheap magnetic compass to go with it.
Gyroscope. Gyroscopes are counter intuitive. The small ones are fun. Get a pair of stunt pegs and you can turn a spare bicycle front wheel into a large gyroscope.
Hand lens or loupe.
Digital magnifier. Celestron makes a 20-100 power hand held magnifier with a USB connection. There's another company that sells one that has an onboard screen, and accepts a USB stick for field use -- 100-400 power. it was featured on a "Naked Scientist" podcast, but I can't find which one --
Good field guides to the local birds, bogs, bugs, and boulders.
An iPOD set up on his computer with a bunch of subscriptions to some of the cool science podcasts.
Subscription to Discover, and Popular Science.
An evening a month at the public library. Not everything is on the internet.
Right you are. Also from the perspective of someone who does no web developing at all.
Still, as you said, better than the US site.
Truth arises more readily from error than from confusion. -Francis Bacon