Julie of KY Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 Unexpectedly, the hardest part of my schoolyear so far has been what to do with my six year old. I am quite settled on all his core schoolwork. My problem is that I also have a 5th, 7th, and 9th grader. My six year old does his work quickly and wants to be entertained by everyone else. My time is busy teaching everyone and they have a lot of work. My 5th and 7th graders have time to spend with the little guy, buy I am trying to come up with things they can do either with him, or him by himself, that is somewhat educational. He loves to take things apart and will spend all day disassembling a computer and asking the names of parts and what they do. He says he wants to grow up to be a scientist or a destructor. ... Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 Borrow a pile of Make magazines and Make books from the library. Your 5th and 7th grader can just treat any of the projects as a electronics/programming elective :) Your 6 year old can have fun reading and doing the easier projects by himself. A fun thing would be to buy a transparent CPU case and replace the existing one. Your 6 year old can have fun watching the fans and hard disk spin up. ETA: Let him tag along with the older kids for their science experiments? Let him build a pizza box size solar oven and bake his own cookies. Do the food prep for dinner. Do stocktaking of your pantry and write a list of items that are running low. Then check the store ads for the cheapest price if listed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaCEmom Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 Is he into drawing at all? We use Draw Write Now as a supplement and to keep my 5 yo busy sometimes. If he does an animal drawing he'll flip through our animal encyclopedia afterwards and I'll read him some more info and we'll look at pictures when I get a chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsmm Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 Snap circuits Kapla blocks Magnatiles Age appropriate apps ( we use starfall and handwriting without tears) Brain pop jr Art supplies Playing in sand or water Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 This is a discipline issue. :-) He is old enough to understand that everyone else will not be entertaining him, and that he must learn to occupy himself when the others are busy...which I understand is what you're asking about, but it is also that he is old enough for y'all not to be too sympathetic, KWIM? Hugs and kisses for him, allowing him to sit at the table and listen to any discussions while he messes with his own stuff, as well as times when he has to go amuse himself. Don't overlook the value of playing games like Sorry! and Parchesi. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 I wouldn't phrase it that way exactly, but I agree with Ellie that it's basically a discipline issue, though I think giving him a set of options of stuff to "work on" is the best tactic. I second Snap Circuits. He might enjoy playing around with Scratch programming online. I think the Make Magazines might be too much for him, but it depends on the kid. Lego WeDo might be another option. I would maybe make him a "bored" jar with lots of options and maybe gift him one special thing to get him started and queue up stuff you already have on hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie of KY Posted September 6, 2013 Author Share Posted September 6, 2013 It's not really so much of a discipline issue since he's quite capable of going and playing independently when I tell him to. However, I also don't think it's fair to him to not give him some guidance toward fun educational things. He loves snap circuits. He's learning to soldier - but needs supervision there. He'd be glad to play board games all day, but we can't all do that. He's dyslexic and not reading so that makes him less independent in some areas. He loves to watch the MIT chemistry and physics experiment videos (geared to high school and younger). He draws pictures of circuit boards and takes care of his pets. He plays alone fine - builds with legos and k-nex, but I'm looking for new things that will stretch him but can be done independently. Thanks for the above ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 Timberdoodle has lots of cool stuff too! But...not sure how much money you have to spend, LOL! When our kids were this age, my husband was always looking for things for them to take apart--old broken phones and anything he felt they could safely dismantle. I don't think of this as a discipline issue--really, it's age appropriate for a 6 yo to be social and inquisitive! Kids need training to know how to occupy themselves appropriately for large chunks of time. I'd look at it as a structure/schedule issue. I used bins and rotated my kids' time so that they had a variety of things to do--building with blocks, dress-up, art, imaginative play (dolls, stuffed animals, rescue heroes, bionicles etc...), puzzles, 3-d puzzles, play-dough, sand-box, outside play, pattern blocks, Cuisenaire rods, counting bears, math wrap-ups, computer time, letter tiles, snap cubes, magnets (have you seen those sets where you can build with magnet rods and balls?), Lincoln logs, cars, coloring, things to glue/crafts... I made a big long list of all the things they liked to do or could do, and then divided their day into 20 minute segments (whatever I thought could hold their attention--some things they could do longer, some shorter). Then I simply rotated activities. They also had "free time," but it wasn't an all day thing--there was a lot of direction for "what" to do most of the day, though they had lots of choice in deciding the "how." If you've heard of workboxes, that's very similar to what I did, and you can use that concept to provide structure for his day for those times he can't be with others. I'd alternate so that he has some alone time, some with one sibling, some alone, some with another, some alone, some with you, and so on. Save videos/computer for either his hardest time of day, or the time when it's most crucial that your older ones are not interrupted (certain subjects). HTH some! Merry :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heartsjoy Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 k'nex machines. Can he be set free outside? mine still love water, digging deep holes, and mud. bbc.uk online KS1 science; Johnnie's math page, Zome Just brainstorming ideas. Thumbprint people for illustrating stories cartoons. free lego online designing software digitaldesign I think it's called. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoobie Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 Audio books? BrainPop Montessori-like work boxes geared toward older primary kids: Geography puzzles Sewing on burlap, buttons Etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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