Looking for recommendations for all things science for my science-nutty young kids (my boys are 5 and 7). Our science diet currently includes chats with parents (who are both trained scientists), frequent visits to the American Museum of Natural History, a sub to Cricket Magazine’s Dig (which is about archeology for kids), and of course science books for kids (some great, some not great) and LOTS of time outside digging up worms, flipping rotting logs over, collecting rocks and acorns etc. We planning a garden this spring.
Any recs for camps (we live in Manhattan), clubs, books, fairs, kid magazines, games (no apps - we’re screen free)?
I wonder whether at some point you might want to rethink being screen free. Particularly for kids with an interest in science, electronic devices can be a great resource, if not overused.
Science-y kids may turn out to be tech kids later on – the kind who frequent computer camps and end up knowing more than the teacher in AP Computer Science. But they’re not likely to find that world appealing if they haven’t been exposed to electronic devices.
Put up a bird feeder, buy a bird book, and learn about birds.
Take a trip to a planetarium, study constellations, and use glow in the dark star stickers to recreate them.
Science Wiz kits by Penny Norman.
Check out tide pools and look online or read in books about who inhabits them (see tide chart first for low tide).
Another magazine they might like.when they get older is Muse magazine for kids. Also Make.
Possibly National Geographic Kids (haven't flipped through any of these magazines in a while to see what they're like currently).
Cook together.
The kids could start a rock collection, and you can help them find resources to learn about different kinds of rocks.
Build together.
How about a walkie-talkie kit? (We found one on sale at a bookstore years ago, lol.)
Edmund Scientifics or Carolina Biological catalogs.
Crack open a geode.
I'm seeing PBS has a zoom site online with science experiments. There are many sites online with experiments and lesson plans, or you can check out books from the library.
Love the gardening idea! Hm, maybe a worm bin, hehe...
Have you taken them to the math museum downtown? (Well, downtown compared to AMNH, that is.) http://momath.org
My boys used to love Kids Discover magazine, but they are now in their late teens, so I don’t know if it is still published.
And, if you relent about screen use, take a look at Scratch, a very basic programming module developed by the MIT Media Lab. My boys were able to use at ages eight & ten, but I believe the Media Lab has since released an even more elementary version of Scratch. (I have not looked into this but had been in communication with someone who was involved with the development.)
And, while not science, I could not begin to count the # of hours spent with Legos. My boys were never interested in digging up worms, but they spent hours most summer days collecting crabs and ‘housing’ them in a huge water-filled hole on the beach. No scientific value there.
If you do relent on screen time, CERN has a fabulous website for kids called CERNland with games aimed at explaining particle physics, the large Hadron collider and how it works, and concepts such as antimatter.
NASA also has amazing online resources.
For real world exploration, my niece and nephew who are that age really love field guides (adult versions). They have birding guides, and identification guides to insects, trees and shrubs, mushrooms, rocks, shells, etc.
Family vacations to the rain forest in Costa Rica, or for snorkeling in Belize, or to the national parks are (perhaps obviously) great for fun study of the natural world.
Though ostensibly for adults, I recommend the book On Looking by Alexandra Horowitz, and/or activities inspired by that book. She takes a walk around her New York neighborhood with eleven different guides from different fields and reports how they view the world. I think it is a great way for kids to learn about observation, even though it is not hard science.
Science in Manhattan is easy: just look at the buildings, at the subway, at anything and you see the finest engineering examples. That super tall ultra condo building going up is poured on site concrete. How do they do it? Why? (The latter answer is mostly that the floors can be thinner than with steel so they can fit more floors in the same height - and that steel is expensive enough that it compensates for the extra time for concrete.) How did they dig the subways? From open cut to tunnel boring machines. The Brooklyn Bridge story alone is astounding, from the stories of the caissons for building the piers to the cables. You have trains powered by a 3rd rail. And on and on.
My wife teaches a science based curriculum for young kids. It’s all about observing, about learning to see what’s around you instead of taking it for granted. What birds are there? For example, are there crows around? Do you know crows live in huge roosts miles away from where you see them and they talk to each other and fly home at night? If you see any crows or crow relatives (magpies, etc.), try leaving them some unsalted peanuts. They love them and they’re great for the birds. The crows will learn your face and will talk to you and may even bring you things as tokens of friendship. That’s a great way to talk about the lives of animals. Where do they sleep? What do they eat?
@"Deborah T" Constellation study. Good idea. @CT1417 We visited MoMath when it opened. I found it to lacking for little-little kids (then 3 and 5) apart from hitting buttons, biking on square wheels and that float thing. Well, that’s not entirely true. The zometools were a hit. We should visit again.
Re screes. I know, I know everyone thinks I’m odd. Fine. My kids will be exposed to programming and computers in school and that works for me… Eldest is really into the LHC though so I may have to check out that CERN site, @nottelling, thanks for the tip. I’ve relented for David Attenborough explaining evolution. Unbeatable.
Unless they attend a specialized school, exposure to computers and programming in school is fairly basic. I had nothing to do with my son pursuing programming as I wouldn’t know where to start, but there are SO many on-line resources on the subject and they are far past the level taught in most schools.
If you have space for it, an aquarium with tropical fish is a great way to introduce ecosystems. Kids relate best to scientific concepts when they are personally vested in the outcome. You can teach quite a bit of chemistry, biology and physics with a fish tank. When you start up the tank you can discuss the nitrogen cycle and the role of bacteria in detoxifying ammonia, calculate the energy needed to heat the water with the aquarium heater and the weight of the tank based on the number of gallons. Male guppies are known for their mating displays to attract females and the babies are easy to raise with a little effort. Even diseases become teachable moments when you are seeking the proper medication. Eheim makes an excellent battery operated vacation feeder so you don’t even need a pet sitter when you travel.
ScienceEditor, you mentioned Zometools were a hit with your kids. At some point we had the DNA and Buckyball kits. You might be interested in checking out their website to see resources for educators, etc.
In the olden days , Klutz had Lego Contraptions. I think there’s an updated version of that now. And there’s First Lego League for kids a little bit older, I believe.* As for construction toys, Discovery Toys had Marbleworks and Gearopolis. There’s K’Nex. Erector sets – some tiny parts as I recall.
Teaching supply stores, museum stores.
Like the idea of hands on projects and toys. Love reading the ideas everyone else has been posting!
Did a search and saw there's apparently Jr. FLL for younger kids.
A few interesting museums if you haven’t been there. The NY Transit Museum in downtown Brooklyn is terrific. Kid friendly and has a huge assortment of old train cars so you can see how they’ve changed. The Moving Image museum in Astoria might be too old for a really young kid but it has a great permanent show about how movies were made. Haven’t been to the NY Hall of Science in Queens but I understand it’s aimed mostly at younger kids.
My wife says to look up any point of interest and see the children’s books. Like there are many about the Brooklyn Bridge, the subway and building skyscrapers.
K’NEX are really awesome. They have lots of sets and you can build anything and everything. I loved to build add ons for my Barbies with those.
Another thing is that there are electric circuits sets where they can learn about electricity and how to power things with them. I don’t know any specific brands or names, but have seen lots of them in the stores.
There’s a franchise called Little Scientists that offers fun science classes. But frankly you can do it better on your own armed with a homeschooling catalog and lots of enthusiasm, There are tons of kits and projects,
I second @ct1417 recommendation of Kids Discover mags! We homeschool to 9th grade and these magazines are great!!! No advertising and there are free teacher resources on their web site. We also like DK Eyewitness Books. They have a great pop-up life size anatomy book.
The seven year old is old enough for Horrible Science magazines and books, they are hard to find and many were only released in the UK . My kids also loved Murderous Maths and Horrible Histories. This is the best source I found for all thing “Horrible” in the US: http://www.horriblebooks.com/horriblebooklist.htm
My kids are older now, but these are among the books I’m saving for my grandchildren!
We’ve just discovered the “Who Was …”/ “Who Is …” series of books. They’re very well written, informative and appropriate for young readers. DS9 has read “Who Was Albert Einstein”, “Who Was Leonardo Da Vinci” and many others.
, Klutz had Lego Contraptions. I think there’s an updated version of that now. And there’s First Lego League for kids a little bit older, I believe.* As for construction toys, Discovery Toys had Marbleworks and Gearopolis. There’s K’Nex. Erector sets – some tiny parts as I recall.