It sounds like they give the kids time to pursue a personal interest and do a "project" of some sort. DD asked the teacher if she can program mods for computer games (like minecraft) and the teacher said that last year that didn't go well, because the kids spent too much time messing around with the game. Anyone have suggestions of a personal project for a geek? She is in fourth grade. She would love doing something with computers. I suggested she program with Scratch (she has a book) but she said something about it not working (like the book doesn't match what's online).

How much are you willing to spend? Can she start learning Arduino?

That looks very neat--but would she be able to do it at school? The projects happen at school (everyone does their own little thing).

If she can do Scratch at school, I would think she could do this. It might be better to do it at home where you can help her, though.

For something completely different, can she teach herself to knit or crochet? Once she can do a basic stockinette stitch, knitting can actually be really good math activity - figuring out designs requires a good intuitive grasp of arithmetic. You can encourage her to learn to alter patterns to fit. And it can be soothing to have something to do with your hands. I knitted through years of classes at MIT.

She could crochet a hyperbolic plane (google it).

She knows how to knit basic things like squares but doesn't know how to form anything into shapes. Her out of town grandmother taught her the basics of knitting (a 5 minute lesson) but nothing beyond that and I don't know anything about it. Is there a book or something that she can follow to make other things?

She would probably actually really like doing that as long as it's not complicated to figure out herself

Programming is a good idea, but the inevitable question is, "program what?" There has to be some purpose that captures the kid's attention, otherwise it's going to be torture. This is why stuff like Minecraft tends to be a common gateway to programming skills.

A multimedia project would be one way to get her geek on, whether that's making a song, a movie, a photo slideshow, graphic art, etc.

Following Dude's idea. A multimedia presentation using Open Office's Impress (equivalent of PowerPoint) might be a nice multiple reward approach. She could research and present possible programming, maker, and technology ideas of interest to kids while in the process of learning the range of tools in a presentation package (which has some programmatic components.) If she is used to connect the dot type of projects, maybe this is the perfect time to figure out how to do things herself?

Vi Hart has a lot of videos which explain concepts that can be created into projects. For my 6 year old, we did quite a few:





Vi Hart's videos are a starting point for a project for a geek. Let her browse through all of Vi Hart's videos on youtube to figure out if any interest her.

Awesome! Thanks for the ideas.

There are lots of beginning knitting books out there. Here is one (I haven't read it - I learned from my grandmother, too). You could explore more on Amazon, or, better yet, go to your local yarn shop and ask for help. They should be able to show you and sell you a good beginning book, and some appropriate yarn for first projects.

You want something fairly thick, but not crazy thick - maybe about 1/8" wide. Acrylics are cheap and fine for learning-to-knit projects - she can graduate to nicer yarns later. If you don't start with acrylic, get wool or an acrylic-wool blend. Cotton is not stretchy enough for a beginner who is learning to maintain even tension. Don't be tempted by fuzzy yarn or the super-slick synthetics - they feel nice in your hand, but are very difficult to learn on. It should say on the label what size needles to use. A tip is that there is no reason you cannot knit back-and-forth on a circular needle, and it is easier to travel with, so I would get that instead of straight needles.

The book you pick should show pictures of hands knitting, with close-ups that let you see which way the yarn is wrapping around the needle and how it pulls through. Bonus if it shows multiple methods (left-handed or Continental and right-handed or English). I like books that talk about how to adjust and design patterns - Elizabeth Zimmerman is a fun author for those (I recommend Knitting without Tears), but there are others. If you find something spiral bound, that is a plus, since the book can be laid flat on a desk while you use both hands to knit.

Thanks ElizabethN, I will check it out.

Has anyone done anything with electronics/circuitry other than snap circuits? I was wondering about a project book like this: http://www.amazon.com/Make-Electron..._b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=14TYAKZP6CYRK5F518BW

I know nothing about electronics and I want to make sure it is safe--that it wouldn't be easy to electrocute herself or someone else, or set something on fire. I wouldn't be there to supervise and who knows how much the teacher would supervise. I'm guessing I would have to go to Radio Shack and buy parts, which is fine.

There are also Little Bits circuits, but I think they are less flexible than Snap Circuits. I doubt she could get herself in too much trouble as long as she is using batteries instead of plugging into the wall. She might melt some capacitors, I suppose. But would she need to solder? That would give me pause in a 3rd grade classroom.

4th grade, but yeah. That probably wouldn't be a great idea.

How about taking things apart in order to learn about how something works, or why something is broken? This would be more of a mechanical thing. But maybe - taking apart, cleaning and rebuilding an old, broken clock or small motor or sewing machine. Or something like that? (I would so love to do that as part of my "job".)

Based on a brief glance at the preview on Amazon she won't be able to electrocute anyone or start anything on fire (if there was I'm sure a few of my university classmates would have managed to do it back in the day). As ElizabethN said, as long as she is just using batteries it should be fine. However, there is mention of solder in the index (it appears to reference one project) - I wouldn't let her do that part at school.

It is basically the same as snap circuits as far as the components and types of projects go. The tricky part is that instead of snapping a resister to a power source with the snap circuits you have to deal with alligator clipping tiny wires together or poking them into the right holes on a bread board. It is fine if they are good at details and fine motor but it can be a PITA to debug a complex circuit if it doesn't do what it is supposed to do. FWIW my DS8 has done some similar stuff and we've had to help debug occasionally. I can't imagine any of his teachers having the faintest idea of how to help him if it had been at school.

The teacher seems like he might be a geek, and all the kids are highly gifted so he is probably used to some odd projects. But I don't know if she wants to do it anyway. I showed her the book and she said "no way am I going to stick a battery on my tongue." Of course that's like 1 project out of the whole book but now she's turned off by the book.
Someone suggested Sketch Up on another thread (thank you!) so I downloaded it and she seems to like it. Seems like it's good for teaching geometry concepts. Not sure what "project" she can do with that but she likes the idea.

There are also about a gazillion tutorials (and patterns) for free on Ravelry-- but don't say that you weren't warned, because if anyone in your household is a knitter or crocheter, this is as addictive as Minecraft and then some.




Learning to drop-spindle wool is another interesting project that I highly recommend if you can find supplies locally. I've taught a LOT of kids how to use a very simple Turkish spindle made from a dowel and scrap hardwood-- they have great momentum and spin relatively slowly (easier to handle)-- there's some VERY cool physics involved in that one. Respect the Spindle has a pretty nice treatment of the underlying classical mechanics of spindles as tools for spinning yarn.

Another possible add-on for spinning is dying your own fleece or yarn (wool or other animal fibers) with "acid" dyes-- vinegar and Kool-aid (or food coloring dye) in a microwave oven. It's really that simple.



Jumping in rather late here-- hope something in there is useful.


Maybe one of the Mini-Weapons-of-mass-Destruction books? The mechanics and physics concepts in those are really nifty-- my DD has really enjoyed all of those through the years.

Or with minimal effort a Möbius strip.

Amazing. These went right on my gift list for DH and Ds7 for Christmas.

Well, if there is anything that can tear her away from YouTube Minecraft videos, I'm all for it. Knitting is still an option. The library has the book "Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction" as well as one called "Gonzo Gizmos" so I'll check those out and see if she's into them. Otherwise if she's interested in Sketch Up maybe she could figure out how to do a basic house design (assuming the teacher will download that program)...we'll see.

How about a Klein bottle.

I might've been the one mentioned SketchUp. I think she'll get great long term life mileage out of SketchUp skills particularly with the dawn of home 3d printers. Does the project really need a specific tangible outcome? Learning SketchUp to develop enough skill to model things should be its own end. To formalize it, her teacher could help her identify measurable learning objectives. Perhaps an outcome could include teaching classmates some of the basics.

I don't know anything about this project other than the 5 sentences or so that DD has said about it, so I'm not sure if there has to be any end goal. She said she asked the teacher if she could practice the piano there and he said sure. How's that going to work, she's going to drag in her keyboard? He said that anything electric has to be "checked in" whatever that means. I think that I would want DD to have a goal in Sketch Up (or knitting, or whatever), so she stays focused (she has ADHD) but it's probably not required.