Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Need Recommendations for the super science-y kid

Lol, Howler's post brings home to me why I, despite my long-standing interest in science, am at core a mathematician and not a scientist. DS looks as though he's going the same way. We both like the occasional experiment, and for it to go right!

Books: my DS loves/d (come to think of it, he doesn't use them so much now at 8.5, I think because he has memorised them) the Usbourne Dictionary of series, especially the Dictionary of Chemistry. Despite the name, it's not a dictionary, and has loads of illustrations. The fonts are small, but that's pretty common with highly-illustrated books - my guess is these would have the right tone. They have lots of information, and I guess are principally supposed to be revision aids for much older children.

LOL. This speaks to the conditions in my home.

Thanks for writing. :-)

DeeDee

I loved HowlerKarma's post! It's great that some people like things like this--me and DD are more bookworms. Also, we've done more math books because she's been more interested in that so far, plus it does seem like there are more math books around. However, we have found a couple of books that you might check out: Science Explained--a really nice, far-reaching book similar to the DK books
but connects multiple topics very well (i.e., atomic structure, physics, physiology in some instances)--
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805042369/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img

and if your kid has a sense of humor, these are not illustrated but are fun and are probably at the next level or so of reading:
Physics of Superheroes
Physics of Star Trek (plus of course the original Star Trek series is available through Netflix, as an accompaniment)

DBat, CollinsMum, thanks for the books recs - I think the dictionary of books might be a really good place to go although the fact that it says it suitable for AP test studying is one if those strange moments.And I know DS will love the physics of books but the tiny print is not our friend at the moment - when it's pages of text - he oddly likes it when it's blueprints or complicated diagrams.

HowlerKarma - I love your posts! We are sciencey here, although more theoretical than experimental on my part. DH is the experimental one, I'm the don't do that it will burn a hole in rug one. We have science kits and do let him experiment but I am thinking thanks to your post it might not be enough. He has snap circuits and likes that, but likes to take apart stuff that is used better. But his first love is sheer information gathering - so need more books - and he gets weird when he is stagnating, he loves to reread but at some point it becomes obvious he is doing it because he needs new inputs, he always needs something he doesn't know, if that makes sense.

DeHe

HowlerKarma, you had too much fun writing that post.

Can you come to my house and play with my kid?

I'm not sciency, but I am experimental. Now I wish I were sciency. Humph.

I'm debating asking for similar suggestions for younger? Mine is 3. I don't wanna be annoying or anything, but, like, ya know...

-Mich

Hi Mich
we started DS on the brainwaves books which are for 9-11 when he grabbed the science one at the science museum and wouldn't put it back. I think he was 4, they didn't make the little kid ones then, and once we started the older books seemed silly to go back. But really like the authors/illustrators and their approach - silly with great science.

Little brainwaves

And also, if your DS isn't too destructive with popups,these have nice science too. Called see insides

Space popup

They also have the human body and one on how things work - loved the escalator pull out

And have you started the original magic school bus books by Joanna cole - they are from the subject section in the library - not the picture book section, you will find great stuff there. Also go to Hoagies science reading list, good stuff there, I went after posting here and found sme good stuff. I actually have tons of suggestions for this age - but mainly doing the subject sections of the library - basically just start ignoring the age aspect. Oh, and if your DS is like mine, you will start to find problems with older things as they become outdated - no exoplanets, too old!

Another all time favorite
Transformed

I can keep going there are great ones in the ultimate book list too

DeHe

Don't forget natural science and the outdoors! My DH is a scientist, but he's a botanist, so the science in our house comes from a different angle. The natural world outside your doorstep is a different kind of science lab, and the naturalist approcah is often forgotten these days. My DD is an avid birder, entomologist, botanist, you name it. There are some really awesome citizen science projects out there these days. For instance, if you geek out on this sort of thing, eBird is incredible. You can do some simple things like planting certaint sunflower seeds in your yard and then observing what insects come to them on a certain day and sending in your observations, Then your kid can look at the other data sent in by others and see how this coalesces into useful data. There are a million ways to do this. Cornell Lab of Ornithology has some great stuff if your kid is into birds at all (and even if they aren't--again, you can really approach this as science, not lalala nature). Another thought is stream insects studies--what you find directly reflects water quality. So much great stuff like this out there. Also, it encourages the scientist mindset every time they're outdoors. My kids' thing right now is weather. Weather! It's always happening! The patterns are constantly there to observe, and you can see if your hypotheses were correct! I mean, it's perfect. It's pretty hilarious when they are walking through the grocery store parking lot loudly arguing about whether those are cumulus or cumulonimbus, though. They also constantly think they are seeing bizarre, rare phenomena.

Also, we must be the only ones, but nobody really likes DK here. In fact, they make me insane. Too nonlinear. No flow. My kids have flipped through them but never gotten cozy with them or really read them. I think their brains work like mine.

Yeah, mostly the DK Eyewitness books weren't my thing, for sure (well, except for the one about string instruments)-- but DD seems to like that scattered kind of visual/spatial approach. Or did, at least, at younger ages. They may have appealed to her primarily because they are so good to look at again and again. There's no narrative flow, but they are a rich source of "Oh, wow... I didn't see that before!" moments for re-reading. Some kids definitely like that kind of thing better than others, though. My DD tends to be a hummingbird reader like that, but I am not.

Someone else mentioned 'shopping' at the library for non-fiction. I second that. We basically went once a week and checked out dozens of books. In the Dewey decimal system, this is section 500~680, by the way... and in the LC system, it's call numbers Q, and to a lesser extent R and T...


I second the recommendation for the Cornell Ornithology program. We were a birdwatch yard for a lot of years, and we still do birdcounts. A truly local bird guide and a small pair of binoculars is a must! DD's obsession for the past few years has been wildlife photography of birds in our yard, so we've deliberately planted attractive plants to lure certain species of birds and insects. (Along the way, we studied different modes of plant pollination, invasive non-natives, insect/mammal/bird vision and sensory processing, and the electromagnetic spectrum.) We also did FrogWatch at a local wetland (and learned about mutagens, amphibians as indicator species, etc). One other-- my DD's been addicted to What'sThatBug for many years.

The USGS has some incredible resources about vulcanism, seismicity, and natural resources.

For weather, we like Weather Underground-- lots of data to look at there. (It can even be a little overwhelming.)



Sometimes your local county extension office can be a rich source of this kind of naturalist-oriented science/field study.

FrogWatch, you say? Hmmm..... (must go look that up!)

Yeah, we LOVE What'sThatBug!

About binoculars--I get frustrated because so many small binocs are so hard to use and just plain bad, and it can turn kids off birding. I personally can't stand to use those little cheapies that people hand out to kids. Now, I seriously doubt you have these, HowlerKarma, but just so others know, there is a major difference between a $30 pair and a decent $75 pair. It's hard, I know, because you don't want to spend that before you know if your kid is into it, but if they are finding bincos frustrating, just know that going a step up will make a big difference. Also, most kids can't really use them till about 6. DD has these: http://www.optics4birding.com/leupold-yosemite-binoculars-review.aspx and we really like them. As that review notes, these are great entry-level binoculars for ANYONE. I pick DD's up all the time and in fact I prefer them over my old, clunky pair.