roanna Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 My 6 yr old son spends about 4 or 5 hours a day doing legos. He uses the manuals--builds, takes apart, builds again and again. He only has about 5 sets ( the 7-14 yr old ones) and we don't have a lot of money to buy a new lego set each week. I feel like he's doing what he can but I sense he needs something more stimulating. I looked through the STEM thread and saw snap circuits which look really cool. We may be able to have the grandparents buy him one but is there anything else you can recommend? As someone else mentioned recently, I'm thankful I can ask you all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theYoungerMrsWarde Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/showthread.php?t=407127 PVC Pipe :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 (edited) Am totally on board with the PVC thread, which I missed ... that is lovely! I don't know if it includes the hint to drill holes with a Dremel, if you have one (or a friend does). SnapCircuits are sure to be a hit. I would go with the largest kit you can (and not waste a moment sighing over any that you can't afford! :)) b/c the extra bits make things more flexible. We ended up moving our Snap Circuits components into a tackle/art box, but Button would really love the official Snap Circuits storage box/organizer (it is on the Snap Circuits site), so if the grandparents are into Obsessive Organization you could run it by them. We've had great luck with Goobi magnetic construction sticks & balls (I esp. like the Goobi design b/c it comes with stabilizing tripod corner pieces; Magz at Amazon are another popular choice); these were a gift, and we expanded the set a bit. Zoob is also popular; it has the advantage of being without tiny magnetic choking hazards ... Button also got incredible mileage from the Klutz paper airplane book, though he usually wanted/needed help with the assembly. He also has a marble run which we try to add to at birthdays and Christmas; but it gets more-sporadic use than the Goobi, Legos, or Snap Circuits (which he uses pretty often). Edited August 13, 2012 by serendipitous journey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmb6 Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Crafty crow has many artsy crafts, but also lot of posts on things like building marble runs out of toilet paper, making monsters with little articulated joints, making amazing structures of out recycled boxes... Oooh, and I am putting pvc pipes on my list right now... Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 My 6 yr old son spends about 4 or 5 hours a day doing legos. He uses the manuals--builds, takes apart, builds again and again. He only has about 5 sets ( the 7-14 yr old ones) and we don't have a lot of money to buy a new lego set each week. I feel like he's doing what he can but I sense he needs something more stimulating. I looked through the STEM thread and saw snap circuits which look really cool. We may be able to have the grandparents buy him one but is there anything else you can recommend? As someone else mentioned recently, I'm thankful I can ask you all. Not what you are asking for, but my suggestion would be to take away the manuals and dump all the Legos into a single container. Building w/the manuals is a "first step" experience, imo. Learning to build their own functioning creations is where actual learning/understanding occurs. The manuals are simply follwoing directions and forming first relations of how basic building principles work. Buying some of the special Lego Dacta sets will give all sorts of gears, levers, etc really increases the level of complexity of what they can create. Different sets have different focus. I think 2 of the best investments we made were machines and pneumatics. (these are the type of sets that are not typically available at stores and need to be ordered.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Not what you are asking for, but my suggestion would be to take away the manuals and dump all the Legos into a single container. Building w/the manuals is a "first step" experience, imo. Learning to build their own functioning creations is where actual learning/understanding occurs. The manuals are simply follwoing directions and forming first relations of how basic building principles work. :iagree: This is what I had to do for my manual-following son. :D He can use the manual when he first gets a new set, but after a week or two, it gets dumped in with the rest of the legos, and the manual is put away. He is then forced to create his own structures. As a perfectionist, this was daunting at first, but now he does it with ease. :) And this also flowed into Snap Circuits. He has a big set that he mostly followed the manual for. Then my dad gave him the "Green" set for his birthday this year, and while he followed the manual for a couple things, he then started coming up with his own creations. I was so happy to see him do that!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 I'd also suggest attending an AFOL event (adult fan of lego). These are the grown-ups who build elaborate models, functioning machines, detailed robotics, and so on out of Lego. The only manual I've seen at one was where one man made his goal to create everything in the "Idea book" that had come with his first 1970's Lego set-with authentic parts from that era. Seeing this level of building really spurred my DD to build more and more creatively (she's been building scenes from Greek mythology for about 6 months now). Most AFOL events have public days for exactly this purpose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roanna Posted August 13, 2012 Author Share Posted August 13, 2012 He had been making his own Lego creations also. I just saw recently how excited he got when I let him take apart the phone and see what's inside. It's good to have someone tell me to just let him keep working with the Legos he has. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 We have hunted down old LEGO kit directions from the 70s and 80s and then ds would try to build them from the parts he already has. You can start here and navigate from the little pop up menu at the top of the page: http://www.brickfactory.info/year/index.html The old sets don't tend to use as many specialty parts as newer sets. There are some very cool puzzle builds here but may be for more advanced builders? We haven't tried these yet: http://www.ericharshbarger.org/lego/puzzles.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.