Amazing toy for kids

Post by **matthew1** » 30 Dec 2014, 15:31

Little Bits looks to be a great toy set for my kid. Too bad I didn't learn about this before Christmas this year.

He's five, so he's maybe a bit too young, but I never hesitate to give him more advanced things, like Lego sets for 7-12 year olds, etc.

Post by **Matty Moo** » 30 Dec 2014, 20:30

That's badass. I got one of those 150 in 1 project boards from radioshack for Christmas when I was 7. I spent zillions of hours messing with that thing.

LetterT · Post by **LetterT** » 30 Dec 2014, 21:14

Those look fantastic. I have 3 boys, 6, 5, and 3. My wife and I are the same way - we have high expectations for them and love to get them "smart" toys. We have an app on the iPad that's teaching them to code without knowing it.

I like the looks of these! They'll be a great addition to our home school curriculum.

Post by **matthew1** » 30 Dec 2014, 22:10

T Jay, what is the app you speak of?

LetterT · Post by **LetterT** » 31 Dec 2014, 15:34

matthew1 wrote:T Jay, what is the app you speak of?

It's called ScratchJR - http://www.scratchjr.org/

It's free, which is nice. Our 6-year-old and our 5-year-old both love it. They've already figured out how to do a lot of stuff with it.

It's not directly coding, but it's all the problem solving principles that will lead to good coders.

Post by **matthew1** » 31 Dec 2014, 15:48

Thanks!

I need it for me.

LetterT · Post by **LetterT** » 02 Jan 2015, 10:48

matthew1 wrote:Thanks!

I need it for me.

Haha! You are welcome! I haven't messed with it much, but it looks great and our boys love it. I'll have to grab an iPad and dig into it more.

93Regina · Post by **93Regina** » 03 Jan 2015, 18:02

matthew1 wrote:more advanced things

Here you go, when they reach about eleven, or so: A crystal radio set

Post by **matthew1** » 04 Jan 2015, 16:49

LetterT wrote:
matthew1 wrote:Thanks!

I need it for me.
Haha! You are welcome! I haven't messed with it much, but it looks great and our boys love it. I'll have to grab an iPad and dig into it more.

Let me know how it works for you. My boy is good at building Legos and is starting to understand the interoperability of the pieces lets him make anything he wants, although what he plays with mostly is kits as they were designed, only with his own mods to them. Usually more "lasers"

.

So taking the interoperability concept to intangibles (programs) is something I'd like him to have the opportunity to do.

(I don't make him do any activity. I let him follow his whimsy. I've helped trigger his imagination with Tintin books, the Star Wars canon/films, and earlier, simple things like wooden train track toys... Thomas the Train sets. IMHO imagination is paramount. Everything else follows.)

Post by **matthew1** » 04 Jan 2015, 16:50

93Regina wrote:
matthew1 wrote:more advanced things
Here you go, when they reach about eleven, or so: A crystal radio set

Great suggestion. Goes to the heart of how many other electronics work.