Sarah0000 Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Right now the hardest he has is some K'nex Education kits. He also has Thames and Kosmos Gyrobot, Legos (but not Lego Education), and a bunch of preschoolish level things like marble runs, train tracks, varying blocks. He is still interested in all these things, especially the K'nex and Gyrobot, but they aren't difficult for him as for as the building goes. Fine motor wise he does the K'nex without a problem but I can tell he has to use some muscle sometimes. What should I look into next? I started looking at Lego WeDo and Mindstorms. I'm not sure which would be better for him. The Mindstorm stuff is 10+ age and the WeDo is 5+, but the K'nex is 8+. DS is turning four this week. Looking at them, I think he'd be fine building the Mindstorms but I don't know about the programming aspect. He has zero experience with anything related to programming, not even conceptually. What should I look into? Something to introduce programming then go into either WeDo or Mindstorms, or something else completely? He's interested in robots and general machinery, can read and write fine, and is also ahead in math and will spend hours reading all kinds of things. I'm not looking for something to just occupy his time; I'm looking for an involved project that he can really spend his time on, perhaps tweaking over time, testing, applying, etc. Not just build this then build this then free build a little bit. He told me he is bored being a kid and he needs work to do. He is truly distraught. I have ideas for hands on, life activity type things as well (but suggestions are still welcome), but I'm struggling thinking of things to do at home that really require him to think and apply himself. Hopefully you guys know what I mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackie Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Is he interested in programming? If yes, then I'd lean toward Lego WeDo. If he wants to build without programming, then I'd lean toward Kapla/Keva and "domino runs". http://www.youtube.com/user/benjamincrouzier 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4Kiddos Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 We have the Lego Education Simple and Motorized Machines kit and it has been wonderful. It does not have programming but is wonderful for tinkering. I have the LittleBits Gizmos and Gadgets on my wishlist but that is pretty expensive. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Also, look at Lego Creator-they tend to be more difficult, especially the ones with moving parts, and also provide multiple directions to go and lead to more free building and alterations. DD has been crazy about legos since she was about 3. Her 11th birthday/Christmas wishlist still has a LOT of legos on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Have kids -- will travel Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Mine really became a wonderfully creative builder after turning age four. Every Lego creation gets customized: switching major components for different colors, accessorizing with hooks, lights, extra computers, etc., new functionality on buildings, and on and on. He'll build his own new creations as well, and I regularly clear his Lego table to allow him to reimagine the built-by-instructions parts. Even his little brother's Duplo gets upscaled into a house plane that lands on the water. Little brother is getting Kapla for Christmas (big brother even more Lego), so hopefully that will inspire even more creation. So I just mean that you may not need to buy a specific project for your child. I've found as the boys have gotten older, open-ended toys have become wide open. If you're looking for tinkering options, a good supply of free build Legos (ours is legacy Lego, so full of inspiring, strange pieces) may be more than sufficient. We also have the Zoob Car Designer Set (6+) but haven't opened the box yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4Kiddos Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 I agree. I just ordered a lot of mixed lego and technic pieces off of eBay and it has been wonderful. I think it was something like 12 lbs. of lego. My boys have just had all sorts of fun creating things with the odd and creative lego and technic pieces. What about this? http://www.eeme.co/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah0000 Posted November 20, 2015 Author Share Posted November 20, 2015 Thanks everyone. After I explained what programming is he said he would be interested in learning that. What's the first step for that? When I asked him what he would like to do, that is not playing with toys, he said build a real robot or explore Russia. So I guess programming would help him get started with the robot thing. I think he needs more people to interact with about this stuff. None of his friends are interested. I did find a children's science museum that has real science discovery exhibitions and classes, not playing with water and throwing balls into air pressurized tubes. The classes don't start until age five though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackie Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 Thanks everyone. After I explained what programming is he said he would be interested in learning that. What's the first step for that? When I asked him what he would like to do, that is not playing with toys, he said build a real robot or explore Russia. So I guess programming would help him get started with the robot thing. We started DD on programming using Lightbot and Tynker on the iPad. They're a solid introduction to programming concepts. I think both have Jr. versions, but I'm not as familiar with them, she was able to get started at 3-4 years old on the regular versions. There's also a new product our called Hello Ruby that seems to be good, though we've just started with it. DD decided to wait a while for robotics, but I'd done a bunch of research on it. We were down to deciding between Lego WeDo and the Dash and Dot robots. Dash and Dot don't have the building components and the programming has more different levels - from super-simple introductory up through Scratch. Lego WeDo is a single visual programming interface aimed at 6-10 year olds, with the addition of building your robots out of Lego. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinewarbler Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 My youngest is a few years older, but I still remember this age because we built non-stop (and still do). He was born an engineer, taking the door stops apart as soon as he could crawl, then screwing them back on. He still has no peer for building Lego. I've tried EVERYTHING I can to get him one. The best most kids can do is make new minifigures and put a roof over them. I believe it is due to a few reasons.... They didn't have enough lego (or they kept their sets built so couldn't access those parts), they didn't have a dedicated space (and/or had to clean it up constantly) and they didn't get enough inspiration. We had rules: everything you build is taken apart later that week to build something new. You don't have to clean it up every day. We got so much lego from garage sales, that my son finally decided he wanted bins to sort it. Bins we have: speciality pieces, technic pieces, flat pieces, plain blocks, clear blocks & shingles/arches, mindstorm gears and wheels. I finally decided to build a peer group for him. I coach a First Lego League team from grades 4-8 and that has helped me see what many of kids need in this field. Lots of them have incredible ideas/ enthusiasm. I feel sad for them that they don't have the building/ play experience needed to execute those ideas. I give them homework each week which involves them playing with lego. They love it!! I completely agree with the open ended parts thing... TONS of parts that get him to a critical mass so that he can create simple machines in as many forms as his imagination can take him to. That means buying bags of random lego at garage sales, or off ebay. Some technic pieces with larger gears are ok too, but he's still very young and you can have a lot of fun with weird plain parts and inspiration from books and the internet. My PG son still gets every Lego book from the library a couple of times a year and builds for weeks from them. One example of crazy inspiration is the "Great Ball Contraption" that is at Lego Conventions. You can build some of these with many plain blocks. Tons of videos on Youtube. For young kids, any official Lego idea book should keep them busy a long time if they have the parts. Build on a microscale with tiny parts. Build scenes from a book. Build trap doors. I sometimes read a Lego book as part of our readaloud every day so we could brainstorm new ideas. When he is 6 or 7, you can do more with gears. For example, Klutz press has a book with contraptions and gears. http://www.amazon.com/Klutz-Lego-Crazy-Action-Contraptions/dp/1591747775 Honestly, the kids who have already done programming are not the kids who stand out in this engineering league. They are the ones who had the most hours in building. They can problem solve three-dimensionally, they can throw out a plan and start over, they have perseverance and they have incredible imaginations. Some of these kids have never touched a robot before. Oh yeah, and Lego rocks for teaching math :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Lego Discovery centers are good if you can go to one (check for coupons-Lego magazine usually has them). They have master builder workshops designed to just focus on using one technique, like SNOT (studs not on top) or microscale or limited resources (how many ways can you connect just two bricks? What about 3? 5?) Lego stores, both the official company stores and Bricks and Minifigs often do events, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocolate-chip chooky Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Have any of you used Keva Contraptions? I can't get my hands on it here in Australia (that I've found yet, anyway) and the postage is crazy huge, so I wonder if it is as good as it looks and if it's worth the expense. It looks like such a cool spin on marble towers and more open-ended for our young designers/builders. Is it too fiddly or frustrating? Does the ball knock over your hard work? Any thoughts??​ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4Kiddos Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 I also thought of something else. We have a Cuboro set and it is amazing. It is super expensive but I found mine on eBay so it was a less than half. Anyway, you can look on Youtube for videos before you purchase to see if your son might be interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah0000 Posted November 24, 2015 Author Share Posted November 24, 2015 We do have a ton of random Lego pieces and an Idea book, we just didn't have them out because of the baby. I fashioned a Lego corral out of old pieces of furniture so now he can free play all day. And he is. Is Legoland the same thing as a Lego Discovery center? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 Legoland Discovery Centers are the smaller ones, completely inside. They have various building areas, master builder classes, a miniland of Lego creations, usually of the city the DC is in, and some playground stuff for little kids. Legoland parks have all of the above too, but many, many more big creations and rides. We visit both every time we have a chance :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fdrinca Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 I would say to get a few Lego Technic kits, and work on coding via some alternative platform (we like code.org). Those two are the base of the higher-level Lego building kits. DS was obsessed with Mindstorms until he realized that he disliked building with the Technic blocks - or needed more practice with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah0000 Posted November 24, 2015 Author Share Posted November 24, 2015 As far as coding, I'm going to see if DH will play around with Scratch with him, and show him some of his C++ programs he built, for exposure. After I explained what programming is, DS started pretending to program his creations, so he does have interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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