[hackerspaces] Hackerspaces for Kids

[David Powell]

One of the goals that I would like to achieve with Harford Hackerspace
is to create a fun learning experience for kids much like Boy Scouts,
Girl Scouts, or Summer Camp but with the focus on Science and
Electronics.

I would like to hear some ideas from you guys about how I can learn
about what excites kids when it comes to Electronics. I've tried teach
my own kids in the past and they did not seem to interested. My guess
is that I was trying to teach them too much too fast and I took all
the fun right out of it.

I would like to design a curriculum which consist of 1 to 1.5 hour
sessions one day a week. These sessions would teach the fundamentals
of electricity and electronics with a bunch of inexpensive hands on
projects. Hopefully each kid could take home a project every week to
show their parents.

Some experiments that I have in mind are:

- Magnets and iron powder to demonstrate Magnetic Flux.
- Lemon Battery using a Penny and a Nail (Kids can bring their own
stuff to reduce cost)
- Solar Cells

I figure that every day can not be a take home project day. So I am
also looking for lecture ideas as well. Probably something that would
contain lots of pictures and videos.