What to show/let do with a 4 1/2 year old in the lab? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Messtechniker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2020, 05:13:01 pm
content: 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?My first idea would be to let him flash some LEDs by connecting two wires.Have him strip some wires, provided he his strong enough? Seeing all that bent metal on their playgrounds, he should be in a position to do so.But what next?Bare in mind that I am probably the worst teacher on the plant. Incapable of teaching a 9 year old the small multiplication tables....An experience I'll never forget. Maximum fail.

author: Andreas
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2020, 06:41:39 pm
content: Quote from: Messtechniker on August 12, 2020, 05:13:01 pmPerhaps showing some Lissayous figures on your scope?with best regardsAndreas

author: tunk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2020, 06:51:45 pm
content: If you have an osilloscope and (somehow) can connect a microphone to it,then you can ask him to talk and show how it "looks". You could alsoconnect the microphone to an amplifier and speaker, and have him touchthe speaker membrane.

author: mjs
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2020, 07:01:37 pm
content: Favourites of my 4y in my lab:Cutting stuff with side cutters (He already knows to spare my Sucoflex cables and I know to keep my expensive stuff away)Testing 9v battery voltage with his tongue - and making his older siblings do the sameJust wondering the toolsMultimeter - continuity beeper and voltage measurement of those batteriesLEDs and actually contacting something together I'm still waiting a bit.One of the probable causes I'm in the trade are the many visits to the the home labs of the neighbour and schoolmate engineer fathers. So be careful there ;-)

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2020, 11:05:03 pm
content: I think Dave can give a lot of advice, considering he had been in that situation twice.I would say give him some sort of really simple logic simulator. Show him what the different gates do and see if he's able to come up with some interesting designs by cascading a few.

author: maginnovision
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2020, 06:14:42 am
content: I've written programs to do math with really large numbers. Setup an Atmel CPLD dev board and do different things with that. Oscilloscope experiments and "games". Playing with different components. Building and programming a "Simon" type game. Building something to play music. Playing with autonomous cars in manual or autonomous mode. Examining things under the microscope. Or ask the 4.5 year old what they might like to see, or what they're interested in. At that age it's mostly on you to be interested in what you decide to do.

author: KE5FX
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2020, 06:35:06 am
content: Me: "What's up with the funny-looking bulb in this night light?"Dad: "That's a neon bulb."Me: "Oh. What's the resistor for?"Dad: "Take it out and see."Encouraging me to try that without safety glasses wasn't cool, but all's well that ends well, I guess.

author: daqq
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2020, 07:53:40 am
content: 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.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2020, 08:03:22 am
content: See Chickadee Enginerding for ideas.https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgK8idSUqM_imrI1qeNsKOQ/videos

author: Kasper
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 14, 2020, 12:31:44 am
content: I think a function generator, a speaker and an oscilloscope are a fun combo.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 14, 2020, 08:13:09 am
content: Quote from: Messtechniker on August 12, 2020, 05:13:01 pmSome people are innate teachers, others are not; there is nothingfailabout it.Thing is, there is no need to treat this as a teaching opportunity at all. Let him observe and experiment; be a safety supervisor, not a teacher!I wasn't much older when I started my woodworking hobby: one of my first ones was a hedgehog, having hammered a couple of hundred 4" nails about 1" deep into a small log.(Fortunately, they were "reclaimed" nails from concrete moulding timbers, unreusable parts burned and me collected the nails from the ashes.)Sometimes kids like to watch, sometimes to do; ask and listen. Talk to them like they were your colleagues (but omit jargon, and explain words and terms when they don't follow), and you have a friend for life. Probably make another engineer or scientist, though.

author: duckduck
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 14, 2020, 03:38:08 pm
content: Quote from: Messtechniker on August 12, 2020, 05:13:01 pmThings that make light and sound that are interactive -- a pot that controls frequency, a switch that turns on and off or selects lo/hi or color. Have it pre-built and then adjust and modify when kids drop by.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 14, 2020, 03:41:07 pm
content: A 4.5 year old's little hands should be great for fine soldering......... In fact any high volume production work involving small parts.

author: Messtechniker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 14, 2020, 05:48:29 pm
content: Thanks for the hints.Next time he will come round, I'll simplywait as to what his interests might be andthen go on from there.Will report in due time. Might be a while though.

author: duckduck
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 17, 2020, 10:18:33 pm
content: Quote from: Kasper on August 14, 2020, 12:31:44 amJr. 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.

author: Kasper
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2020, 05:08:03 pm
content: Quote from: duckduck on August 17, 2020, 10:18:33 pmGood to hear. I think that was the first lab in college.

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2020, 09:25:35 pm
content: Quote from: daqq on August 13, 2020, 07:53:40 amEasy to get burned though. I know because i used to solder my broken plastic toys together when i was 5.

author: kleiner Rainer
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2020, 11:09:32 am
content: 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/3645652760Greetings,Rainer

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2020, 11:35:06 am
content: Quote from: Messtechniker on August 12, 2020, 05:13:01 pmAh, you lucky personWhatever you choose, considerfit it to his attention span. If he's interested he will continue, if he's not that's fine tooimmediate feedback helps. Having a payoff in 60 mins may be too far awayhave things to twiddle, and the abilty to see/hear/feel (not smell!) the differenceopen ended is good, since you can't predict how long they will remain interestedbe prepared for them to be more interested in the box than the present. That'sgood, since it shows imagination and active thought, not mere passive receptionI rather like the microphone + amplifier + scope idea, since it fits all those.But above all listen and watch - see what catchestheirinterest!

author: Messtechniker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2020, 12:33:32 pm
content: 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.. 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.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2020, 02:29:26 pm
content: Quote from: Messtechniker on August 19, 2020, 12:33:32 pmThere are advantages to letting a kid become bored - they learn to examine things in detail to find something interesting (or they become destructive to get attention).You can't win all battles, you can only bias them in your favour.Perhaps trying the "what do you think will happen if you do X" and "how does doing X' and X'' change things" and "bet you can't get it so big that Y". If that involves doing something normally "forbidden", then so much the better - e.g. louder and louder.

author: GlennSprigg
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 20, 2020, 01:28:59 pm
content: ASK him what he would like to do and know about! (Things that he saw...).