What are ways to learn/play with electricity at 6 years of age?

[fluidistic]

I would like to let my 6 years old son play and learn about electricity or electronics. I have searched on the Internet and what comes out are mostly kits with an arduino or a clone, which are very interesting but not exactly what I'm looking for. I have seen a kit that teaches about electricity with light bulbs, and magnetism with an electromagnet (seemed nice), but it lacked condensators and inductors, I think.
Is there a way to easily let.the kid learn about resistors, condensators, inductors, diodes, etc. while having fun, i.e. in a conducted way rather than throwing a battery and the components with wires without any guidance?
What would you recommend? Thank you.

 

[gleem]

Six might be a bit too young. I think my daughter bought a kit for her son when he was about six. It was like or maybe the same as this one.

which as you see has rigid conducting bars that connect points on a grid rather than wires. This makes it easier to follow the circuit. However, the child needs guidance to benefit from this kit. The kit is inexpensive and available at this site
https://www.bananarobotics.com/shop...H7VvbEYk7oO92EzR7H-ENqxGVPB9TeLxoCyU4QAvD_BwE

I'm not sure if the circuits of which there are supposed to be 101 are of enough interest to a six-year-old.

BTW, the proper term for 'condensators" is capacitors.

 

[jrmichler]

Thinking back to when I was six... A spool of magnet wire, a piece of dowel, a nail, and a AA battery. Wind the wire on the dowel and the nail, strip insulation off the ends, pick stuff up. Lots of tinkering to learn the difference between iron and wood core, number of turns, battery life vs number of turns, and what gets picked up versus what does not get picked up. When that slows down, introduce home made motors.

Capacitors, inductors, and diodes should wait until basic concepts are understood. And kids learn a lot more than generally realized during unguided, or only slightly guided, play.

 

[DrClaude]

I second @gleem's suggestion. Snap Circuits are great! The components are easy to manipulate and assemble: if the child can build Legos, they can work with Snap Circuits.

 

[fluidistic]

Thanks a lot so far. I might go for a snap circuit then.
So, overall, you think something like this would be too advanced?

 

[gleem]

I think that there will need to be some adult supervision and instruction in the beginning. Unlike Legos, you cannot just connect everything willy-nilly and expect something. How well does he read? You probably don't want him shorting out the batteries for example. You need to give him some feeling for voltage and current how they distribute in a circuit, what to expect, and that some things need to be connected in a particular way for example.

 

[berkeman]

Thanks a lot so far. I might go for a snap circuit then.
So, overall, you think something like this would be too advanced?

I couldn't find a way to easily translate that Amazon page from French into English, so it will be hard for me to comment. I'm using Firefox at the moment, and I think @fresh_42 has said that there is a Chrome browser shortcut for translating pages, so I'll try that in a bit.

In the mean time, I do think that it will be hard for even a bright 6 y/o to grasp much about electricity. I think I was about 10-12 before I was getting curious about such things and starting to have the mental tools to think in those abstract terms.

However, if you lived here in the San Francisco Bay Area instead of France, I would be suggesting that you take your young one to the Exploratorium Science Museum in San Francisco on a regular basis to start getting exposed to really neat exhibits for all ages in all of the STEM areas. I think that even if you are young, it's exciting and interesting to see so many cool exhibits, even if you don't understand them yet. And each time you go back for another visit, you see things you've seen before and understand a little more about each one, and see new things that renew the sense of wonder about learning.

I just did a Google search for Science Museums in France and got some hits. I have no idea if they are similar in Mission and format to the Exploratorium, but hopefully some of them will be worth family day trips.

https://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/all

 

[fresh_42]

Thanks a lot so far. I might go for a snap circuit then.
So, overall, you think something like this would be too advanced?

No. It could possibly be not advanced enough. I made circuits with copper pennies and a soldering iron around that age. Maybe I was 8.

 

[strangerep]

When I was very young I decided to experiment with electricity by myself, having read some books from the (primary) school library. My experiment involved baring some wires and sticking them into a 240V socket.

Yes, learned a great deal -- mostly from the screams of my mother when she noticed my experiment before I had time to kill myself.

 

[Tom.G]

I couldn't find a way to easily translate that Amazon page from French into English,

Copy to clipboard (highlight and ctrl-C in windows)
bring up Google Translate in another tab/window
paste into left part of window (ctrl-V in Windows)
translation appears in right part of window

 

[DrGreg]

Copy to clipboard (highlight and ctrl-C in windows)
bring up Google Translate in another tab/window
paste into left part of window (ctrl-V in Windows)
translation appears in right part of window

Alternatively paste in the URL of a web page that you want to translate.

 

[robphy]

Thanks a lot so far. I might go for a snap circuit then.
So, overall, you think something like this would be too advanced?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075KPZM5N/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[gmax137]

Thinking back to when I was six... A spool of magnet wire, a piece of dowel, a nail, and a AA battery. Wind the wire on the dowel and ...

This is what I did, along with a few friends.

When I was very young I decided to experiment with electricity by myself, having read some books from the (primary) school library. My experiment involved baring some wires and sticking them into a 240V socket.

Yes, learned a great deal -- mostly from the screams of my mother when she noticed my experiment before I had time to kill myself.

This too, though we have 110V in the US. I was too young to strip wires myself, so I used the metal key that was provided to open peanut cans* in those days. My mother had the same reaction

*How to show your age without specifying

 

[berkeman]

Okay, enough with the shorting wires stuff folks. The next person to post that gets temp banned for a bit. Please stay on-topic with good learning resources for a 6 y/o.

(and yes I could have posted similar adventures from my early years, but thought better of it...)

 

[hutchphd]

In retrospect it is amazing that I can still digitally count to ten (twenty in sandals), maintain binocular vision and have no evidence of deep burns. I did try to be careful but holy crap I did some stupid stuff.
Luckily kids will soon have nothing left in school libraries to foment ideas.

 

[berkeman]

but holy crap I did some stupid stuff

Please go eat a handful of dirt and call me in the morning. Thanks.

 

[phinds]

Okay, enough with the shorting wires stuff folks. The next person to post that gets temp banned for a bit.

Well, shucks. I was going to tell about the time I bent a nail file and ... (OK, I won't)

 

[hutchphd]

That's nothin. I had an entire bottle of ...(Oh OK I won't)

 

[berkeman]

Thank you boys...

 

[plum356]

not necessarily electricity but have a look at KiwiCo
https://www.kiwico.com/

 

[vela]

Hand your son a 9-volt battery and suggest he touch the contacts with his tongue.

 

[fresh_42]

Hand your son a 9-volt battery and suggest he touch the contacts with his tongue.

That could go in the wrong direction. I knew a kid who loved garlic and onions!

 

[gmax137]

Okay, enough with the shorting wires stuff folks. The next person to post that gets temp banned for a bit. Please stay on-topic with good learning resources for a 6 y/o.

(and yes I could have posted similar adventures from my early years, but thought better of it...)

of course you're right, @berkeman

I still think the flashlight battery, wire and nail/bolt electromagnet is a good start. Add a few of the old incandescent flashlight bulbs, a few single thro knife switches, and off you go. Hands on is the best, IMO.

 

[Tom.G]

Hand your son a 9-volt battery and suggest he touch the contacts with his tongue.

I Really recommend it be a run-down battery. The brand new fresh ones HURT!

I do use that method for a quick evaluation of battery potency. But it does get some people upset to see.

(It is hard to get rid of the taste from those that leak

Cheers,
Tom.)

 

[swampwiz]

It might not be worth it to not have a kid that age be so interested in electricity. There are those things on the wall with the 2 vertical lines and an extended semicircle (in North America at least) that a kid finding interest in electricity might be curious about.

 

[dlgoff]

There are those things on the wall with the 2 vertical lines and an extended semicircle (in North America at least) that a kid finding interest in electricity might be curious about.

Yes. When my brother was about 6 years old, he stuck both ends of a bread tie wire in both slots. But he only did that once.

 

[hutchphd]

But he only did that once.

Your brother is clearly smarter than was I at a similar age. I'm not telling why I know this.

 

[fluidistic]

A lot have happened since I started this thread. I bought a game with easy connections (with wires/springs), he can follow a simple "book" to set up the power to a motor where he can plug a propeller. The propeller flies off when the motor is stopped, this is what is fun to him.
I also brought him to my lab (open days), people had set up many cool experiments for kids. Even superconductor demonstration. He got to know about electromagnets.
I also teach him some math, since he's the one asking to get to know more about it. We covered some algebra, and a vague notion about complex numbers (that it doesn't make sense to say one is bigger than another, unlike the number he sees at school). He could figure out the value of a in a + 1 = 4 for example, but his mind kinds of want to set a to 1 because it's the 1st letter of the alphabet.
And a lot more.

 

[fresh_42]

I also brought him to my lab (open days), people had set up many cool experiments for kids. Even superconductor demonstration. He got to know about electromagnets.

I still remember a visit at https://www.deutsches-museum.de/en when I was a kid. It was exhausting to run around the whole day, but it was full of STEM stuff and technical demonstrations like the Foucault pendulum, the Farraday cage, and many more.

And the first thing I think about if someone mentions the Europark is https://epfans.info/?id=1540,12,11&PHPSESSID=dsmniwac . IIRC (or at least they have had it) then it was an actual training module of the MIR. They also have a Russian submarine there. I found those two far more interesting than any rollercoaster.

Impressions like this can be very strong. And lasting.

 

[Mark44]

BTW, the proper term for 'condensators" is capacitors.

Capacitors are also called condensers, but not "condensators," at least not in English. Back in the days when cars had points ignitions, a condenser was part of the ignition system, along with a coil.

 

[256bits]

and a vague notion about complex numbers

Expect a note from the school teacher some day soon about him calling numbers imaginary.

 

[256bits]

Capacitors are also called condensers, but not "condensators," at least not in English. Back in the days when cars had points ignitions, a condenser was part of the ignition system, along with a coil.

Cars are - correct that - were a good source to learn about stuff - fluid dynamics ( hand out the window feeling the moving air ), sound ( honking the horn when your dad has his head under the hood ), and electricity ( when he got you back by telling you to hold this plug wire and see if it sparks ).

 

[hutchphd]

Capacitors are also called condensers, but not "condensators

If, in UK English, one can orientate (instead of orient) oneself, I see no reason why a Leyden jar cannot condensate charge.......who invented this language!?

 

[Mark44]

If, in UK English, one can orientate (instead of orient) oneself, I see no reason why a Leyden jar cannot condensate charge.......who invented this language!?

I'd judge orientate and condensate (as a verb) as back formations, namely words formed unnecessarily from longer words such as the nouns orientation and condensation.

Condensate, as a noun, is a word, but two online dictionary definitions that I looked at list it only as a noun, not a verb. There is no need for "orientate," since "orient" (verb) has exactly the same meaning and has the advantage of being shorter. Unfortunately, it will probably creep into the language.

 

[berkeman]

I see no reason why a Leyden jar cannot condensate charge.......who invented this language!?

Two guys named Bose and Einstein?