How to get the next generation interested in using hand and eye

[Cobaltblue]

Being a Grandfather to 4 fantastic girls I have tried to get them interested in making things.

Initially Duplo, Very successful we have tons of Duplo from our own kids and I have added to it.

Lego, Not as successful, still working on that.

Meccano , The eldest is 9 she is still not really into Meccano (none are so far more than a passing interest).

 Steam Engine the old Meccano engine is a great success I have hopes it will get them into Meccano itself.

The best success so far keeps them engaged for hours is glue guns and cardboard with some paint and shiny things.

We have been building automata and toys.

Great fun for grandad as well

The most successful so far are the nodding cat the water fountain (uses small submersible pump (about £2 on Ebay) and the Chameleon trying to eat worm.

Using you hands to learn the skills to make things and use you imagination seems to be losing to tablets and TV screens.

Although none of us had such things they wear anti cut gloves and eye protection when using tools but they just love it!

Our first two efforts Chameleon and worm, Cat Moneybox pictured. 

The others were claimed

Cheers

Mike T

[Andy M0FYA]

When I was aged five or six there was nothing to keep me happier than an offcut of wood, a hammer and a bag of small nails, which I hammered into all sorts of patterns and claimed I was building a wireless!

That developed into building my first real one at the age of nine.

Andy

[PerdioPal]

The chameleon mechanism is superb! I love using my hands to make and repair things, been doing it for more years than I care to remember. All kids are scientist/engineers (two in one) until school beats it out of them, and after that only a few become either a scientist or engineer. Keep up the (very) good work.

[BusyBee]

I cannot really imagine anyone in my close family having real technical skills. I think my interest was not kindled by anyone's outside interest. I was fascinated by how things worked, particularly the valve radio we had at the time. I attempted to do things from and early age but, I think, actually progressed far better because my father was not a practical person (at least technically) so had to learn to do things myself, without any help, in my early years. I did wander about and was very inquisitive with what people were doing. I remember one time when I was little chatting to some builders closeby and being given a few bricks and cement to play building :D

Really though my world was more fantasy than practice. It was years before I built a radio which worked as I would be just as interested in getting the Enterprise to warp speed as receiving a radio station. In some ways I still am. It does make it easier to understand new concepts though.

Tracy

[DrStrangelove]

I cannot really imagine anyone in my close family having real technical skills. I think my interest was not kindled by anyone's outside interest. I was fascinated by how things worked, particularly the valve radio we had at the time. I attempted to do things from and early age but, I think, actually progressed far better because my father was not a practical person (at least technically) so had to learn to do things myself, without any help, in my early years. I did wander about and was very inquisitive with what people were doing. I remember one time when I was little chatting to some builders closeby and being given a few bricks and cement to play building :D

Really though my world was more fantasy than practice. It was years before I built a radio which worked as I would be just as interested in getting the Enterprise to warp speed as receiving a radio station. In some ways I still am. It does make it easier to understand new concepts though.

Tracy

It's finding the diLithium that's so tricky these days.

Zephram Cochrane is born in 2031.

[Cobaltblue]

The Chameleon was great fun we spent hours on it (back in the summer we were all out on the decking ) we had  to rebuild the cams and levers 3 times to get it all to work.

I really nice exercise in checking the movements, levers , Cams and timing when we got everything to work for the first time there was great excitement and a sense of achievement.

the youngest (4) made the worm out of playdough.

Being only cardboard the holes wear after a lot of use making the Mech a bit wayward we have repaired it twice already.

You can get Mini glue guns ideal for small hands from the Range   Mini Hot/Cool Glue Gun (therange.co.uk) for just £3.74 at the moment.

If you want to have a go at the Chameleon there is a Youtube video here:  (208) How to make automata toy from cardboard (DIY Chameleon) / 박스로 카멜레온 오토마타 만들기 / オートマタ/ Among Us - YouTube

the lack of dimensions etc made it all the more fun working it out.

The eldest (8 at the time) aligned the cams and glued them in position when she was satisfied the tongue would always just miss the worm.

The water fountain was all in the imagination of a 6 year old I just helped her idea become a reality (Kids love playing with water) 

Cheers

Mike T

[SeanRegan]

Simple.
Take their mobile phones away.

[Doodlebug]

Simple.
Take their mobile phones away.

That would loose them the dexterity of the thumb
and the future Arthritis therein.

[Pye Man]

All kids are scientist/engineers (two in one) until school beats it out of them

When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school
It's a wonder I can think at all

Kodachrome Paul Simon

Despite having woodwork and metalwork shops at school when it came to careers the mantra seemed to be 'don't do stuff with your hands [especially if it is dirty stuff]'.

Hard for kids today. Building my first crystal set (with twisted together wires) was exciting - even if I could only get the Light Programme rather than Radio Caroline - when there was only one radio set in the house. I had my very own private entertainment that I hadn't before! What could I make next?! Today, kids have phones - I wince when I see little more than toddlers in the supermarket glued to what is rattling on their little screens while their parents shop - tablets and televisions in their bedrooms so they will hardly see the point of building something that seems Stone Age. They also have TV, etc., all day whereas we had to find something to do in the holidays when programmes didn't start until 5pm.

The other thing for most of us on here is that we grew up in an analogue world where things were made out of 'big' and obvious parts and at a basic level comparatively simple in operation and it was relatively easy to learn what went on 'under the hood'. I mess with vintage things - radios, cars, cameras, etc. - as they are the only things I now understand. I've worked using a computer for assistance for decades but it's all too clinical. Digital has got no soul. Plus it's a constant upgrade rat race where anything you learned three years ago is useless and worthless. The only satisfaction I get out of working with computers is 'beating the system' by installing the latest Linux on a twelve year-old machine that the manufacturer wishes was in the tip.

I have no grandchildren but one Christmas I remember being around at friends and spending time with their son who had - though he didn't realise it - a recycled present of a Lego kit from his father's childhood. We had an afternoon figuring what we could make with me prompting or asking questions and avoiding doing it for him. He would have been about six or seven. We had a fine time but it didn't stick - he ended studying politics or something.

Another issue is that in our culture, engineering and the like is poorly regarded. Much better to be something in a suit.

Like most of us I from time to worried about growing old but for this and many other reasons I am glad I was born when I was.

Paul Simon was glad of his Kodachrome but even that has succumbed to clinical digital. My mobile phone camera is for making a record - nothing else.

Sorry, I'm a grumpy old man!

[Mike Watterson]

It's not helped that "fitters" who can barely put an adaptor on a fibre or plug on coax are called "engineers". Most are not even technicians and if you are lucky have had basic health & safety training as well as being shown how to drill holes and fit connectors. So if there is a problem, there are multiple visits and takes weeks. Possibly caused by an inept initial install. The 1960s P.O. linesmen were better educated, and weren't engineers either.