My kid thinks she's four, but if she really were four, I guess I'd be making her one of these here DIY circuit boards, so she could learn what electricity is without putting a battery on her tongue.
Homemade Kid's Electronic Lab [doctort.org via makezine]
How are you supposed to teach about electricity the safe way without putting their tongues on a battery. My Lovely and Talented Wife vetoed me this weekend on that very same life lesson.
Really, either we teach him or some kid in the school bathroom is going to give him a 9v and say "lick this, it's fun"
Dremelling age 4? What... table saw age 6?
posted by: Terry from Knoxville at August 21, 2006 4:23 PMWhat's that run on, 6v total? That's *nothing*.
When I was a toddler, my dad was stationed on an aircraft carrier off the coast of Vietnam. He sent home a plastic soap box sealed with some sort of yellow goo. Glued on the top were three switches that each turned on a neon light bulb. I played with that baby all the time, until the batteries finally died.
Years later, Daddy said it was ok to open it up. Inside were a few capacitors, resistors, and a bunch of heavy-duty navy-issue batteries, connected in series to generate the high voltage (but low current, natch) required to drive the neon bulbs. Now *that's* a lesson in toddler electronics!
I had plans to recreate the experience, though admittedly, with a wimpy setup like the one posted. But since I wasn't half a world away, I ended up spending all my Dremel time rolling around in the floor with the kids instead.
posted by: RobertB at August 21, 2006 6:29 PMCertainly not a toy your kid can take on the plane with them...
posted by: Kaz at August 21, 2006 8:26 PM