Our new member Effiekins was asking about this in the recent acceleration thread; Grinity suggested starting a new one so that her request wouldn't get lost in there, so I'm taking the liberty of doing that (hope that's OK!), and pasting my reply from that thread, too. (If I can figure out how to do that, that is!)
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Here's Effiekins's original request:

I was fortunate to be a stay at home mom for four year and we made volcanos and did daily science experiments, he can beat me in chess in three moves. I have had to go back to work because of the economy and the things I was able to provide I am no longer able to provide and life is becoming more and more challenging every day. We have a hard time keeping him occupied and don't have the resources to provide him his very own dexters lab. Any suggestions? He is not a read it kind of kid, but a breed it, build it, destroy it kind of kid. It is sooo hard, we have completed every kit from the science center and he is moving beyond my ability.
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Here are a couple of ideas I had:

I've got a suggestion for your son: do you know Steven Caney's "Ultimate Building Book?" My lads just love it--it's huge, it explains various principles of construction in great detail, it's profusely illustrated, and it has hundreds of building projects using cheap and easy stuff (rolling up newspaper into long tubes to use for struts, for instance; also cotton swabs, plastic wrap, old sheets, cardboard tubes--basically just raid the blue box!). There's a pretty good preview on Google books (which I never seem to be able to link to--but just search under his name and it should pop right up).

Hope that helps! (I've got one of those need-to-build kind of guys myself, so I know where you're coming from!)

PS: A couple more ideas:
-Complete-a-Sketch: elementary drafting program for kids, at http://www.sixbranches.com/CAS0P.htm
-some engineering lesson plans, located here: http://www.tryengineering.org/lesson.php?from=8&to=&cat_id=&keyword= and here: http://www.teachengineering.org/ and here: http://teachers.egfi-k12.org/category/lessons/
-some fun-looking projects here: http://pbskids.org/designsquad/parentseducators/resources/ and here: http://www.sciencespot.net/Pages/junkboxprojects.html
-an interesting-looking math curriculum here: http://www.rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?sid=1280109929-824964&subject=11&category=6821

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And here's a link to a previous very interesting thread of Val's that Effiekins might like, too:

http://giftedissues.davidsongifted.org/BB/ubbthreads.php/topics/88298/1.html

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Well, I couldn't make the quote-in-a-box thing from a different thread work, but I hope this still makes some sense in regard to who is saying what!!

peace
minnie

It's the Jack McKee book "Woodshop for Kids" that we have (we still like it a lot): http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....rch/true/woodworking_book.html#Post51862

There was also a thread a while back called Gifted Builder or something like that--I'll see if I can find it....

Here it is:
http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....ch/true/Re_Gifted_Builder.html#Post70654

We like take-apart here, too--Frenchie's habit of never throwing anything away has come in handy! Lots of supplies for new projects (old 8-track players and such!)... (ETA a safety tip--we always cut the plugs off of anything electrical, so that if they put stuff back together again, they can't plug it in, just in case they didn't put it back together again correctly.)

love these suggestions, especially the complete-a- sketch. DS5 loves >100 dot dot-dots but may be ready for something similar but different like the 123 completeasketch.
I wish I had something to share, the only thing that comes to mind is this http://www.amazon.com/Paper-Astronaut-Spacecraft-Mission-Manual/dp/0789318814. Slightly dainty cutting and gluing of spacecraft.

Oh, kcab, that Downie book looks terrific! And I see that he has written at least two more--thank you so much for suggesting him. I'm not sure if I'd be able to adapt them for Groucho myself, but I think I can find somebody around our area who could help (though I might save them on the shelf for a couple of years).

beak, the spacecraft book looks very fun, too--right up Chico's alley, I think. Thanks!

mm