Ada Lovelace Day is Oct. 11....

[knitgrl]

Our dd is almost 7, and her middle name is Ada, in honor of the first computer programmer. I found this picture book biography of her at the library, but was wondering if anybody did other activities with their kids or had fun ideas for this day. All the STEM things for girls online seem to be directed towards middle school age.

[knitgrl]

On the offhand chance someone else is interested, I did some brainstorming and came up with a few ideas....

 

We can read the biography and do a narration (to get a little language arts in the day).

Play Robot Turtles, a game that introduces basic programming

Play Trionimoes or Yahtzee!, because dd likes them

I found this nifty paper doll of Ada

There are some printable math puzzles at math-salamanders.com

Playdough to Plato has a rainbow addition snack game. If I am really lazy, I will use Froot Loops, which would be a real treat in this house.

There's always tangrams.

And for an afternoon matinée, we can watch Phantom Tollbooth. It's the only movie I can think of that has any math in it.

 

I am not math-phobic, but coming from a set of parent-artists, it is not my thing. Personally, I hate math and logic puzzles, and riddles in general, but realize this is a thing I should try to avoid passing on to my children. This seems like a good excuse to explore math in a fun way. Also, it's nice to have a day off from the same-old, same-old.

 

[umsami]

<3  Thanks.  DD had to do a report on a "space" scientist and chose Henrietta Swan Levitt.  Ever since, she's been on a mission to learn more about female scientists and mathematicians, especially those who never got the credit they deserved in their lifetime.