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Ask Soylent -- STEM-based Gifts for Kids

posted by CoolHand on Wednesday December 16 2015, @02:03AM   Printer-friendly
from the make-em-smarter dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

So it's that time of year again, and I'm pondering gifts for the kids that will teach them Science, Tech, Engineering, Math (STEM) fundamentals without their knowing it. The google searches so far have produced addition flash cards with cartoon characters on them and the like, which is instant tedium. I saw this replica of the Digi Comp at Maker Faire a couple years ago and thought it would fill the bill, but $350 is a big risk to take on something they might only play with for 5 minutes. Have any Soylentils given STEM gifts that really have worked, capturing kids' imaginations and teaching them useful STEM concepts?

[Please indicate a suggested age-range for any gift you suggest. -Ed.]

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  • (Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Wednesday December 16 2015, @06:13AM

    by Magic Oddball (3847) on Wednesday December 16 2015, @06:13AM (#276988) Journal

    I haven't had the opportunity to give this as a gift yet (my lone niece is only 3) but my absolute favorite science-related gift at around ages 10-12 was a microscope set — one box was the microscope (full size with battery-powered light for illuminating slides from below + blank slides, dye, tools, etc.) and the other was a set of 30 pre-prepared slides. IIRC the microscope had 3 settings, the highest of which was 750x.

    Not only did I love the thing to death, it was a big favorite with my brother and our respective playmates — we spent vast amounts of time with finding things we could cut thin enough with the scalpel to view on the slide. We only stopped using it when the dial used to adjust the focus (moving the lenses up/down) broke from overuse. :-)

    At around ages 7 & 12, my little brother and I were also given "pocket microscopes" (almost identical to this model [amazon.com]) which we also had a blast with. :-)

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  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday December 16 2015, @12:57PM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Wednesday December 16 2015, @12:57PM (#277054) Journal

    Thanks, that's a good suggestion.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.