Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Engineerin or Computer Science games or activities

When I asked my 10 year old son what he wanted for his upcoming birthday, he said that he would like something to do with engineering or computer science. Does anyone have any suggestions for games or activities that would be fun for him?

Thanks!

He could actually learn some computer science. He could begin by learning some computer programming skills. Robotics and electronics in general are some other options. There are some beginning electronics sets that might interest him. Arduino seems to be growing in popularity. What has he learned and done so far?

The trouble with computer science for a present is that most of the best resources are free - but you might get away with not telling him that :-) Does he already do Scratch programming? If not, that's where I'd start for computer science. (http://scratch.mit.edu )

Things my son really liked at 10:

Scratch http://scratch.mit.edu/

Minecraft https://minecraft.net/ (if he has XBox and an XBox live account, he can work with his friends to create things together)

Other ideas:
Remote control kits for planes, cars, etc. The planes were the real hit, especially the ones they had to build and wire
Lego robot or other robot kit
Home weather station

My ds 8 is loving a game design course he is taking on-line at youthdigital.com. It is not free. I got a discount on it through the homeschool buyer's co-op, but you can purchase on their website. It is really great.

Thanks for the great ideas. He doesn't have any CS experience and I didn't know what was out there that would appeal to kids but I wanted to find something fun to get him started.

He's probably a bit beyond these, but the Snap Circuits are pretty cool. You can buy them on Amazon and there are lots of different sets.

If that's way too simple, consider looking into buying him an Arduino board - http://www.mouser.com/arduino http://www.arduino.cc/ They are tiny little microcontroller boards that he can do just about anything he can think of with. Just go on youtube and search arduino, you'll find a ton of amazing stuff.

I haven't used it, but apparently the SC-750R set includes an electronics curriculum.

If you have money to spend then lego mindstorms is both engineering and computer science.

Do you live close to any colleges, they might have some computer programming classes that meet on the weekends, or over the winter break, and summer classes. The classes might be offered directly thru the computer science, or computer design departments instead of thru a formal program such as CYT. Not only are these classes substantially less expensive, the content is taught by students/professors from the department. Your DS can meet other students/teachers with his interests.