
Ask HN: Math and science gift ideas for kids? - bcks
I&#x27;m father to a bright and curious 6-year-old girl and want to nurture her interest in science, math, and how things work. Inspired by a query from her grandmother, I started compiling a list of science and math gift ideas up at http:&#x2F;&#x2F;stemkids.io. Are there any favorites I&#x27;m missing? What inspired you as a kid?
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kendallpark
Female programmer here.

Some of my favorite toys were Legos. My little brother used to get all the
Lego presents growing up (because he was a boy) so I would use my allowance to
buy my own. When she's old enough, try out the Lego Technic series or the
Mindstorms. I had the entire first-gen of Bionicles (this is where my
allowance went for a year), a Mindstorms R2D2, and the RCX 2 Mindstorms kit by
the time I entered middle school.

I don't think you'll get a lot of mileage with the prepackaged
science/engineering kits. I used to get those all the time for presents.
Barely used them. They're just not that fun and don't have a ton of reuse. You
also get seriously railroaded. You want to explore at that age, not follow a
set of instructions.

Same goes for telescopes. The kind that parents are willing to buy are the
kind that will probably get used only a couple times (unless your kid is
REALLY into space). Also applies to the star-projector things.

Set, the card game. What a great game.

Equations is a competitive math game for 3rd-5th graders. You can scale it for
lower grades by taking the exponents and square roots out. It's best played
amongst peers. Get the rules off the internet, not from the boxed
instructions. I was pretty good at it back in the day--my team placed 3rd at
regionals. I volunteered with my old elementary school's Equations club a few
years back and whooped those kids (still got it, baby). ;)

I think early access and training in hardware tools can really open up the
possibilities for any kid that likes building things. I was always building
things as a kid.

EDIT: Punctation and details.

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dimitar
Bionicles were comparatively inexpensive and allowed enough freedom to build
things cool things with just one or two sets (much better than the other
contemporary Lego lines in the early 00s).

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pm90
Please please please have a copy of these books in your house:

[http://www.amazon.com/Princeton-Companion-Mathematics-
Timoth...](http://www.amazon.com/Princeton-Companion-Mathematics-Timothy-
Gowers/dp/0691118809)

[http://www.amazon.com/How-Solve-Mathematical-Princeton-
Scien...](http://www.amazon.com/How-Solve-Mathematical-Princeton-
Science/dp/069116407X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416848766&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+solve+it)

Its certainly too advanced for a 6 year old (or even a 16 year old, TBH) but
just having it around is really great, I think. I remember when I was younger,
I would look up stuff in more advanced books even if I couldn't understand
them right away. The feeling I had was always: "Someday, I will be able to
understand this..." which made me learn more physics and math.

"How to Solve it" is especially great if you do/will teach her in the future.

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sytelus
I maintain the list for kids >= 3 yrs old here:
[http://goo.gl/rLGwtr](http://goo.gl/rLGwtr). This list is in progress and
perhaps always will be. Initial items were from the things I myself loved and
wanted but couldn't :(. I've added suggestions from here.

For <= 3 yrs here's another list...
[http://www.amazon.com/registry/baby/3TYUVBEO9672C](http://www.amazon.com/registry/baby/3TYUVBEO9672C)

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quickpost
Awesome list! Got some great ideas for my 3 year old daughter's X-mas gifts.
Thanks!

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saluki
Here are some ideas . . . (some are probably more advanced for 6 year olds . .
. but will give you ideas for the future).

magnatiles, squares and triangles that snap together to make buildings and
other structures, high quality and all kids love them. (they are pricey but
this is one of the best toys we ever bought, now at target).
[http://www.amazon.com/Magna-Tiles%C2%AE-Clear-
Colors-100-Pie...](http://www.amazon.com/Magna-Tiles%C2%AE-Clear-
Colors-100-Piece/dp/B000CBSNRY)

Legos in general . . . are great. Mixels are popular now and give you a lot of
creative options to combine them.

Consider lego mindstorms a little advance for 6 but something you could build
projects on together. (check out the Lego Jr. FLL program and FLL robotics
competitions for kids).

The snap circuit sets are fun, again something you can do together initially.

html/css is always fun for kids, get them a domain and hosting and start
teaching the basics.

There are lots of great how things work books out there and lots of great
documentaries on netflix.

Create a water board . . . get a square piece of plywood and attach tubes,
containers and help them set it up to flow top to bottom (great fun in the
summer).

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dreamweapon
Penrose Tiles, of course:

[http://mathartfun.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/PenroseTiles.ht...](http://mathartfun.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/PenroseTiles.html)

The online shop for the new Museum of Mathematics in NYC has some of fairly
cool stuff, also:

[https://shop.momath.org](https://shop.momath.org)

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arh68
A gyroscope, a radiometer, pentominoes, a lego bucket, a chess set? There are
also the Handy _____ Answer Books. I see you've already included the Cartoon
Guides to ____, which are great. There's got to be a set of children's
encyclopedias, but there is also the Internet [1].

[1]
[https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page](https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page)

EDIT: I don't remember pentominoes being square, more triangular/rhombus
shaped. Wikipedia shows unfamiliar shapes:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentomino](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentomino)

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thearn4
As a soon-to-be-father, I'd also be interested in infant/toddler ideas. Though
simply reading to and talking with them as often as you can is probably the
obvious winner there.

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FolioSwarm
See hobby lobby section on this stuff. Tons of ideas. I take my kids there
about once a month to buy these types of things.

Also Errector.us

Also not sure if Capsela is still around but I loved those.

Good luck,

Jordan - FolioSwarm

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insipid
I came here to say "Capsela", too. I loved those so much! (Although it's hard
to tell if they still exist; the sets I could find on Amazon were so
expensive, I have to assume they're the toy equivalent of "out-of-print".)

Then, of course, the perennial classics of Erector sets, Tinker toys, and
Lego.

~~~
FolioSwarm
Yeah, Capsela I think is done, but there are replacements. Problem is I can't
think of them. Just put gears into eggs and there you go. Pretty genius. This
is how we should build cars, computers, everything. Just snappable parts that
do something you need. Did I just say that, "Computers". How cool would it be
to snap in a graphics card, software, pictures, apps, etc? Clunky I know.

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spodek
I wouldn't discount simple toys like baseballs and frisbees as motivating
understanding and enjoying nature.

Not sure if people still play with ant farms, but Darwin and E O Wilson both
played with bugs.

Telescopes.

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csarva
Have heard good things about Robot Turtles - I think it was on HN before too
--

[http://www.robotturtles.com/](http://www.robotturtles.com/)

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mbreese
Robot Turtles is great (and now available at Target). But, I think it is
really best for kids between ages 3-5. My six year old can breeze through it
and gets bored quickly, even with the harder rules. However, my 4 year old
loves telling us how to move her turtle.

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fredophile
For older kids that find Robot Turtles too simple you could try Robot Rally.
You can really tell the difference when you're playing with a mix of
programmers and non-programmers.

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jacksonhole7
My daughter went to a friend's house this weekend and played Junior Explorers
and loved it - all about wildlife and nature. www.juniorexplorers.com

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helen842000
Circuit Scribe kits & Kano.me could be good starting points.

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noblethrasher
A large, magnetic, dry-erase board.

