DS6 wants a calculator for Christmas, for fun around the house - no calculators allowed in school yet. I don't think we're ready for a scientific calculator (or maybe we are, and I just give him my old one, which is a simple TI one). He specifically wants a calculator where he can read the equations in the display screen - not a calculator where you type 22+45, and as soon as you type the 45, the 22 disappears. Any recommendations?

An iPod touch? ;p

DS has a Casio FX-991ES Plus which he's been very happy with (and I've been very impressed by - calculators have come a long way :-) In particular, it has the feature your DS wants of displaying the calculation in full and its answer.

IMO, at 6 your DS is probably ready not to be confused by a scientific calculator and you might as well get him one; it'll last longer than a more basic one.

On the other hand, I have friends who swear by graphics calculators for mathy kids, and I've never quite seen the point there - it's not clear to me that they have any advantage over the combination of a scientific calculator plus Geogebra for when you want to plot things. I could be missing something there, though.

ColinsMum, my ds12 has graphing software that he uses on his laptop due to his dysgraphia - he knows how to use it and likes it but.... he also likes his graphing calculator for some reason! I'm like you, I don't see the advantage of a graphing calculator, but fwiw ds likes having it.

Coll, I think at 6 I wouldn't worry whether or not it's a scientific calculator, he can probably handle either ignoring the extra functionality or he might be interested in it. What I wouldn't do is invest $ in a scientific calculator when he doesn't need one yet simply because when he gets to the point in school where he needs one, the school he's at may require a specific brand/type of calculator.

Prior to getting his scientific calculator, our ds had a simple Casio but I don't remember what model # it was. We've also long ago had the very inexpensive calculators you can pick up for next to nothing at the drug/grocery/whatever store with only basic calculation capability and each of our kids loved them just for fun. I was impressed with how much learning they could accomplish with just +-x/!

The other thing you might do, if you have an iTouch or iPad or iWhatever ... or... on your computer... download a freebie calculator. OTOH, our kids really loved having the actual thing to hold in their hands.

polarbear

polarbear

Thanks for the recommendations. He definitely likes having the actual thing to hold in his hands, particularly as a fun thing to do at bedtime. I think maybe I'll just go find my old scientific calculator from college and give him that one. Thanks!

Oh dear, good luck starting down that road! They are very addictive, you know. DS was 5 or so when he started on calculators, and now he has a dozen different ones and still craves more. I think the one that he has that you might like is the Sharp WriteView; it's one of his favorites. There are multiple models of it, but we got one for about $20.

Don't forget to get him a slide rule to go with them!

Wow, I googled the Sharp WriteView, and it even shows fractions the way they are *supposed* to look instead of with a dash (3/4). That looks like a great choice, thanks for the recommendation!