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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?"
""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.
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.)
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.
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
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
Yeah, he already said that. Better answers include:
- Kids Electronics Lab
- Eyeclops Microscope
- Commodore 64
- Lego Mindstorms
Those are just a few toys that can be used educationally to learn about science, engineering, and math.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
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
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.
Yeah, but half the fun of obtaining porn at the age of 13 is doing it behind your parents' backs. Getting it in your Christmas stocking takes the fun out of it!
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*
I just clicked that link at work! You could have warned me at least!
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?
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.
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.
just consult this.
Want to improve your life? This guy will show you how!
I think it also might be illegal.
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.
If he doesn't have one yet. Preferably one with a proper locking blade.
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
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
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.
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
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/