Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion DD needs a personal project for school

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.