In case you didn’t already know, instructables.com is an incredible resource for geeks. From cosplay to crafts to techy builds, Instructables has a little something for everyone.
Here are some of my favorite Instructables, some of which I’ve made and some of which I wish I had the time/talent to make but don’t:
Internet Controlled Mars Rover by mashorter
Mechanical Hand from Straws by mszymczak
Duct Tape Purse by kyluddy
Duct Tape Rose by Megasamuari66
Miniature Revolving Solar System by ChrysN
Solar Powered Phone Charger by h2osteam
Gingerbread Castle by jamieicecream
Catapult from Office Supplies by bo’meara
LEGO Flash Drive by UmurCelikyay
LEGO minfig costume by jmartin90
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Slime by The King of Random
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Pencil Toppers by Samuel Bernier
Real Life Coin Block by brunoip
X-Wing Fighter from Office Supplies by spookylean
Special Mention for the images in the collage at the top of this post:
Mini Crossbow by Dave Hax
Wearable Arc Reactor by johnathan.elwell
Minecraft Pickaxe and Sword by KatieStiles
Mario Sunshine Functional FLUDD Water Gun by ELDOOGIE
Hellboy’s Illuminating Right Hand of Doom by blanthegenius
11th Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver by NathanaelScheffler
Riddler’s Device by LabRat
Hand-carved Wands by Mr Sanchez
Thor: The Dark World Mjolnir by jetpackbragging
Incidently, even if you are not a self-proclaimed geek, you still might enjoy Instructables. It is a one-stop-shop for all things tutorial. Whether you’re looking to crochet a baby bottle cover or wanting to build a chicken coop from wood pallets and soda cans, Instructables has it all.
This post has been part of The ABCs of Raising Well-Rounded Geeklings series.
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One thing I’ve noticed among my fellow parents is that those who are gamers tend to have children who start gaming at an earlier age than their peers. I’ve also noted that parents who play MMOs specifically, tend to have a better understanding of the game and know how to keep their children safe in the online world. So while their children might start gaming at (for example) 6 years old, they are more likely to have a positive relationship with the game than another child whose parents are not well-versed in MMOs and who let the child play without precautions at (for example) 15 years old.
This is a general statement based on personal experiences, not meant to be an attack on any one type of parent. Of course I realize there are always exceptions to the rules. If you are not a gamer and your child plays an MMO then it is very likely that you’ve done your research into it before-hand. But if this is all new to you then perhaps I can offer up a few tips that might help.
First of all, if you’re not able to supervise your child’s gaming for whatever reason, then it is better to just not let them play. Children need supervision in their online interactions. Now I don’t mean that you should stand and stare over their shoulder every second while they play (besides being boring for you, I doubt they’d appreciate it either), but you should be involved.
If your child was a member of the boy scouts, you’d talk to the other parents in the troop, make sure it was a safe environment before letting him attend sleep-overs. MMOs are no different. You have to be willing to familiarize yourself with the game.
Beyond supervising, you’ll want to interact with your child regarding the game. Ask them questions, show a supportive interest. Gaming is a hobby like any other. Inquiring about their latest quest is no different from asking them how t-ball practice went or if they enjoyed the book they picked up at the library.
You also want to make sure you are all on the same page before your little gamer’s first log in. Talk with them so that they understand the rules, such as school and chores before gaming. Make sure they know not to hand out personal information (name, address, etc) online, and make sure they understand the consequences should they get caught trying to break these rules.
Keeping the computer in a main room of the house so that your children aren’t isolated in their rooms while they are online is generally a good idea regardless of if your child is a gamer or not.
If you allow your older children to log-in on their own then be sure to discuss with them the importance of safe-guarding their password.
And by all means, make sure their gamer ID is appropriate. Nothing that reveals their age or location. You may want to Google it just to make sure that it doesn’t have any meanings you are unaware of.
As with everything else in parenting and in life, use your common sense when getting your children started with MMOs.
Every game will have different settings and different safety options but here are some WoW specific tips:
- For very young children, encourage solo play. Simply exploring the vastness that is Azeroth, killing rats and practicing basic computer skills should be more than enough to happily entertain a 7 year old.
- For young children, turn off chat tabs completely. As they grow older, you may consider enabling them to chat with local players but still fencing off public chat.
- When you allow your children to start chatting with other players, be sure to enable the profanity filter as well as the chat log. Take time after their play session to read through the chat log to make sure that conversation is appropriate and healthy. If you are unsure what a term means, be sure to look it up.
- For older children who are ready for group play, encourage them to form a guild with people they know in real life, such as their classmates, cousins, or neighborhood friends. If real life associates are not available for online group play then be sure to screen the guild your child does end up joining. Note the way they speak to each other and make sure its a good fit for your child.
- Consider using controls to help regulate the amount of time spent playing the game and make sure that you understand any time consuming commitments (such as raiding) before you allow your child to agree to them.
Inadvertently, your child will at some point most likely be witness or victim to poor online interactions. Whether its a rude player, cyber bully, or someone looking for personal information, try to remember that your child can’t control the way other players behave. If you react calmly and help them to address the problem in the best way possible, then you not only are teaching them how to handle themselves online but you are also developing a trust with them, which ensures they will come to you for help rather than hide it if they ever find themselves in a situation where they are in over their head.
Beyond safety, you also want to teach your children to be well-mannered. They are building an online reputation, something that is far more complex than they can understand at their age. Joystiq has a great list of MMO manners that parents should be teaching children.
In my personal opinion, the best way to teach your children to mannerly gamers is to set a good example. Playing with your children is beneficial in other ways as well, it gives you a common interest to bond over and makes it easier for you to know what they’re experiencing online.
You might be wondering at this point with all the time and effort you must take just so your child can play a game, is it really worth it?
Yes!
MMOs teach problem solving and strategy. For younger children, they improve computer skills. They are a great opportunity for learning how to network and build friendships for older children.
Of course you aren’t going to want your child to spend all their time glued to the computer screen, fortunately there are many ways that the WoW fun can continue unplugged!
There are WoW board games, WoW trading cards, WoW books, and if you’ve got an artist on your hands then they may appreciate World of Warcrafts, a blog dedicated to fan art of all forms.
If you decide that WoW isn’t for your child then do not despair, there are plenty of other options! Sites where you can find MMO game ideas for children include:
Kids MMORPG
Best Games MMO
Free MMORPG List
This post has been part of The ABCs of Raising Well-Rounded Geeklings series.
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I am a huge fan of George Takei and absolutely love the way he has used his fame to speak out for equality for the LGBT community as well as to shine light on what happened to the Japanese Americans during WWII.
Fans of the original Star Trek know that this is nothing new for the cast and writers of the long-loved sci-fi. Star Trek has been the model of equality since its first airing, uniting all races of humans and aliens in a single star-ship and a common goal. Most notably, they cast a black woman to play the part of communications officer Lieutenant Uhura during a time when blacks were still fighting to end segregation in the south.
Years after the fact, we are all still talking about the first interracial kiss on television. Simply ground-breaking.
Those of us who want to raise children who are accepting and loving to all- regardless of race or sexual orientation- need to be mindful that we expose our children to television like Star Trek, shows where equality is valued.
Beyond exposure, role play can also be an invaluable tool in raising healthy, loving children. For this particular activity we used wooden clothes pegs and colored them to look like our favorite Star Trek characters.
The kids helped make a couple dolls and then we got to work. Or shall I say play.
While we played with the dolls, we discussed how every doll was just as wonderful and fun as every other. Whether they were blue or red, whether they liked vanilla ice cream or chocolate, all the dolls were equal in our play.
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As a geek, often we find ourselves feeling isolated. Alone in our quirks. I noticed just the other day when I logged onto Facebook and there was a discussion on a geek parenting page about the Oscars. It was no surprise that pretty much none of the self-proclaimed geeks had watched any of the Oscar-nominated movies as they were all too busy playing table top games and reading books and admittedly watching “less popular” movies.
I believe it is this detachment from mainstream society’s interests that leads us to want to gather with like-minded persons. Online we have countless websites, forums, and social pages dedicated to our individual fan-doms. In real life we frequently can be found in large groups at comic conventions, Magic tournaments, and of course the Renaissance Fair.
When I think of the Renaissance Fair and all things medieval, I can’t help but reflect on the castles we visited when we lived over seas. Amazing structures, castles are. Studying castles lends its self to all sorts of things such as architecture, war strategy, history.
To get LittleMan excited to learn about castles I started by making two castles (one red, one blue) and two catapults to go with them.
The castles were made from duct tape, using the duct tape cloth method that I explained earlier this week. Securing 5 sides together and leaving the top open, I trimmed the edges of the top with scissors.
The catapult is made from popsicle sticks. It is a common design that I learned as a child and have seen floating around the internet quite a bit, I merely covered the popsicle sticks with matching duct tape to give them a more unified look.
For ammunition I simply ripped up and crumbled small pieces of construction paper, though I did talk to LittleMan about how rocks were used to weaken the castle walls. I also mentioned that sometimes catapults were used to throw severed heads over the castle walls as a means of intimidation, LittleMan being a typical 5 year old found this disgusting tidbit fascinating. (For more fun facts like this, I suggest checking out Horrible Histories.)
Once everything was made, I set up the castles and catapults a few feet apart from each other and we had a lovely time shooting at each other, trying to get our paper balls into the other person’s castle.
Of course the duct tape castles I made were hardly historically accurate. To help LittleMan understand all the various parts of a castle, I created these Parts of a Castle Nomenclature Cards (click here to download this free printable).
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I got the bright idea to make a solar system with the kids. Me being the perfectionist that I am, my first instinct was to do a papermache solar system to scale. Any of you who know anything about space know how laughable this idea would be to try an accomplish with a kindergartner. Those of you who don’t get the joke, hop on over to Think Zone and plug some numbers into their solar system model calculator:
If you want Earth to be 1 inch in diameter then you’re looking at placing Neptune at least 8 km from the sun. If you want Neptune 2 feet from the sun then Earth would be 0.0001725 cm! Crazy.
So I gave up on any thoughts of accuracy and just decided to keep it fun and easy.
We started out with 1 sheet of construction paper per planet, some scissors (to cut the construction paper into a square shape), crayons, solar system flash cards, and an origami book with instructions to make a paper ball (these instructions could also be found via youtube).
I had LittleMan use the flash cards as a guide while he colored each sheet of paper to look like the planet it would represent (ie, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune). Meanwhile I read fun facts about that planet from the encyclopedia.
When he was finished coloring all the planets, I followed the directions in the origami book to make each sheet of construction paper into a 3D planet-like shape. I twisted some pipe cleaners to make a rings for Saturn then we strung them up above LittleMan’s bed with some thread.
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Duct Tape.
If you’re a crafty geek then you are well acquainted with the stuff.
From Pokeball roses made out of duct tape to TARDIS I-pad covers made out of duct tape, we geeks seem to have taken the phrase “you can fix anything with duct tape” to a whole new level, now its “you can make anything with duct tape.”
And this fact has not gone unnoticed by the big cheeses at Duck Brand duct tape. They went from the original silver duct tape advertised mainly for its fix-it abilities to offering a wide range of colors and designs. Their website has a section specifically for duct tape craft and activity tutorials. Every year they hold a Stuck at Prom competition and geeky teens across the country participate by making their own formal attire entirely out of duct tape.
Compared to the *AMAZING* duct tape creations that can be found online, my duct tape projects are rather laughable. Like this one…
But still I try. I have a tendency to pick up a roll or two randomly, for no particular reason, because I find so many uses for it. Nearly everyday I am reaching for the duct tape with one purpose or another in mind….bind a homemade book, make a tiny flag for a walnut boat, frame a finger painting for the wall, make a house for LittleMan’s action figures, etc.. If you pay close attention I’m sure you’ll see duct tape in the background in many of my posts, holding together a lapbook or as decor in our art studio.
If you’re new to duct tape, then you might wonder how people create with it without getting it stuck everywhere. The answer is simple: duct tape cloth.
Duct tape cloth is made by slightly over-lapping parallel strips of duct tape sticky-side up then placing a second layer of strips sticky-side down perpendicular from the first layer, like so…
Once the sticky sides are together the duct tape forms a durable material which can be used to create most anything.
Like a toddler-sized bag
Or a water-proof boat that can float little LEGO men around the bubble bath.
Are you a duct tape fiend?
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My children, like most all children, love costumes.
For that reason, we have a wealth of licensed character costumes.
Licensed character costumes are great, we love them. However you can’t deny that there is something special about letting a child create their own costume, of their own imagining. If you need any evidence of the greatness that is children’s superhero designs, then I suggest checking out artist Alex Law’s Tumblr: Little Girls are Better at Designing Superheroes Than You.
It doesn’t take much time nor money to create a costume kit for your child. We recently made one for SunnyGirl and here’s what we included:
1- Masks. These were purchased for $1 each from Party City.
They are adult-sized so we had to tie a little knot in the back to help them fit SunnyGirl’s todder-sized head.
2- A cape. Capes can be purchased from Dollar Tree for $1, or they can be homemade. SunnyGirl has several fashion scarfs that were purchased at thrift shops which she uses as capes. Here is a cape that I made for SunnyGirl out of one of my old t-shirts.
3- Duct tape wristbands. These are uber simple to make, just stick the sticky sides together and make the bracelets just large enough that the children can slip them on and off easily.
4- Foam stickers. Sounds funny, I know. But its like the S on Superman’s shirt, only they can put the stickers anywhere and spell anything their heart desires.
Package this all up in a container with some nail polish or, if you’re brave, some face paint and you’ve got the makings of a basic cosplay kit for children.
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I am computer illiterate. Well, maybe not as much as some people. But when it comes to things like knowing how technology works, I am almost completely hopeless. Much of the behind the scenes tech stuff is handled by my IT-savvy husband.
Truly, needing to ask my hub for advice when writing a few lines of coding is my not-so-secret shame, both as a geek and as a homeschool parent.
Just because I’m ignorant to technology doesn’t mean that I want my children to go without instruction in this crucial subject. If anything, having personally experienced set-backs in life due to my lack of computer knowledge is what drives me to ensure that my children are well versed in common software and basic programming and all that other stuff which is over my head.
Luckily, there is a wealth of resources out there for children to learn all about computers and how they work. And thankfully, I can learn right along side my children- it is one of the many benefits of homeschooling.
First and foremost though, if you’re going to be having children spend time online then you need to make sure that you’ve taken the necessary precautions to prevent them from stumbling across something unsavory or seeing anything they can’t un-see. Even if you are right next to them the whole time, you want to take these precautions. A good starting point might be my post on age appropriate internet searching. Beyond adjusting your search engine settings, you might also consider using a service such as Norton to block certain types of websites. We’ve experimented this past year with a few of these types of services to find the best one and in our experience, Norton did the job best. While the free version of Norton was absolute rubbish about tracking Google searches and website views as it claims to do, it does do the very basic, very crucial job of blocking the content you want blocked.
Now once you’ve got your computer all kid-safe and ready to go, where do you go?
KhanAcademy is known for their innovative and wildly successful math program, but did you know they’ve put together a pretty decent resource for learning early programming?
Code.org has many great free services from their An Hour to Code program to Java Script tutorials- they even have “unplugged” activities. No computer necessary for children to practice the basics.
Scratch is another free online resource. Created by MIT students and featuring adorable little cartoons, this one is pretty popular among the homeschoolers I’ve spoken to.
Code Academy is another free resource available online. I’ve poked around a bit on there and unlike the other free resources listed above, this one is 110% fool proof because they spoon feed the answers to you. I’d say this is the one you should use if you’re especially overwhelmed or confused by the other sites.
HTML Dog has many wonderful tutorials but unlike the first few sites I’ve linked above, this seems geared more towards the older children. Perhaps you’d find it useful if you have a tween/teen.
There are, of course, also a lot of books and games and toys even (LEGO Mindstorms, for example) that you have to pay to use, but I’m not going to tell you about all those right now because I haven’t personally used them. I could never in good conscious recommend something on here that I haven’t personally checked out for myself.
That said, if anyone has anything that they can personally recommend, I’d love to read about it in the comments section.
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When you think of robotics, it is easy to let your mind loose in a sci-fi fantasy of artificial intelligence that not only looks human but can also think for its self (and the reality is that we’re not impossibly far off from that), but for anyone just getting started it is better to think simpler. As the saying goes, you must learn to walk before you can run.
One of simplest types of robots is a vibrobot, which is primarily composed of a vibrating motor and a power source (ie battery). A vibrobot is the perfect first exploration into robots for any early elementary aged child, being that it is both simple to assemble as well as inexpensive.
We originally followed instructions to make BristleBots, however, instead of racing them as was recommended, we dipped ours in a bit of paint and used them to make art.
BristleBots work best when made with wide head toothbrushes, and ours were apparently not wide enough as they were very top-heavy and kept falling over.
We weren’t too terribly disappointed though. Real science is full of hiccups and its good for LittleMan to start learning that hard fact now, early in life. We discussed it and decided that we needed something with a wider base to keep it from falling over. We toyed with a variety of options but eventually settled on a small plastic cup. I disassembled the BristleBots and gave LittleMan all the parts (motor, battery, and tape) so that he could make his new cup-vibrobot.
The assembly was pretty simple, my kindergartner year was able to do it without help.
Before he did anything else, he drew a face onto the cup. Then he taped one wire from the motor onto one side of the battery. Then he taped the motor and the battery to top of the cup. Finally he taped the second wire from the motor to the other side of the battery and viola, done.
Just look at the pride on his face when he finished making his very own robot and it really moved. Priceless.
I made my own robot as well and we let them “battle” each other on a tray.
It was really only a matter of time though before LittleMan involved his robot in the adventures of his super heroes and super villains.
For more robot project ideas, I highly recommend Science Buddies (they also have a wealth of science projects outside of the robotics field). My personal favorite is the tutorial on how to build a robotic hand out of drinking straws, which is a bit more advanced than LittleMan is currently ready for.
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In a matter of less than two days we’ll be kicking off our series, The ABCs of Raising Well-Rounded Geeklings, so today I thought we could take a moment and reflect on the humor that is unique to raising the next generation of geeks.
I had a bit of help with this post.
First I asked my friends and family. Then of course my fellow bloggers and my Facebook fans. All of whom gave wonderful answers but I wanted more to share with you so I asked for help from some more established geek-parenting Facebook pages: Geeks Make the Best Parents, Raising Geeklings – Uncensored, and Geek-Parents.com.
All of which are pages I am a personal fan of, all of which have humorous content and page admins who are just fab people.
Geeks Make the Best Parents is a lighthearted Facebook community of geek parents, and they always seem to have the hook-up when it comes to awesome giveaways.
Raising Geeklings – Uncensored is a “just for fun” Facebook page run by and for geek parents. Both their admins and their fans are super friendly, funny people. (They all three are great however, if I had to pick a favorite, it would be this one.)
Geek-Parents.com is the Facebook fan page for the actual website, geek-parents.com. This one is new to me but a friend recommended it about a week ago and so far I’m liking what I’m seeing.
With these three pages’ help I was able to compile the following list of unexpected things fellow geek parents have found themselves saying, which they maybe wouldn’t have had to say if they weren’t raising geeklings.
Danielle B, fan of Raising Geeklings – Uncensored, says
“Quit yelling “EXTERMINATE” to everyone!”
Christa AB, fan of Geek-Parents.com, says
“If you want to be a ninja you have to practice being quiet and not stabbing your brother with a katana.”
Lister, page admin of Geeks Make the Best Parents, says
“If an owl arrives with a message I promise I’ll come wake you up.”
Bear, my dear friend, says
“Every time I step on this particular pile of dirty clothes, Dalek Caan threatens me with extermination.”
Jannah F, fan of Geeks Make the Best Parents, says
“Please don’t shine your sonic screwdriver in the dog’s eyes. You’re going to give her a tumor.”
Samantha S, fan of Raising Geeklings – Uncensored, says
“You may not put your brother in the Pandorica”
Melanie M, fan of Geeks Make the Best Parents, says
“Come out of the TARDIS and get ready for bed.”
Jody W, fan of Geek-Parents.com, says
“Lucas, this is not the game you are looking for.”
Jessica S, fan of Raising Geeklings – Uncensored, says
“No you can’t play with mommies pikachu, she will get you your own.”
Sierra I, fan of Geek-Parents.com, says
“No…she’s your sister, not your sidekick.”
Angela FL, fan of Raising Geeklings – Uncensored, says
“Junior, just hit the X button until I get back. I have to go potty.”
Chantal F, fan of Geek-Parents.com, says
“Put daddy’s sword down. Its way too big for… oh well I guess you are able to drag it.”
Darla V, Facebook friend of a friend, says
“Put the book down and look where you’re walking.”
Lemitta L, fan of Geeks Make the Best Parents, says
“Your Justice Stick does not belong on the kitchen table!”
Kimberly O, fan of Raising Geeklings – Uncensored, says
“Well honey that’s what happens when you put your lightsaber down your throat.”
Laura P, fan of Raising Geeklings – Uncensored, says
“Please don’t shoot the dog with your bow, she’s NOT a draugr!!”
Kim BD, fan of Geek-Parents.com, says
“No, your technology teacher will not teach you how to hack a computer.”
Terry L, fan of Raising Geeklings – Uncensored, says
“Give mummy her dice back, she’s killing zombies.”
Felix C, fan of Geeks Make the Best Parents, says
“Can you tell me three things that lead to the dark side?”
Johna W, fan of Geek-Parents.com, says
“Don’t run with a battle ax in the house.”
Tara F, fan of Raising Geeklings – Uncensored, says
“Yes, snarf is driving the thunder tank.”
Dyan, author of And Next Comes L, says
“J, we don’t use our calculators to hit people.”
Naomi P, fan of Raising Geeklings – Uncensored, says
“If you ask me to make you a “flufflepuff” scarf one more time it won’t ever get made.”
Dottie G, fan of Geek-Parents.com, says
“You can’t become a Jedi if you don’t eat your vegetables.”
Alyssa M, fan of Raising Geeklings – Uncensored, says
“Buddy, your Wailmer evolved, not digivolved.”
Alexia H, fan of Geek-Parents.com, says
“We’re going to see *A* doctor, not THE Doctor.”
Jess, author of Nerdy Science, says
“J, we don’t drill into our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”
Mindy S, fan of Geek-Parents.com, says
“Stop hitting your sister with Optimus Prime.”
Nicole T, fan of Geek-Parents.com, says
“No light saber fights near the TV!!”
And a few phrases I’ve caught myself saying to my own geeklings:
“Please don’t Hulk-Smash so close to the hamster cage.”
“You cannot achieve world domination by withholding toilet paper so why don’t you give it back and I’ll help you come up with a new plan.”
“I don’t know if Cerberus and Fluffy are related, I’m not sure where three headed dogs come from.”
“We don’t play Quidditch in the house.”
“Sweetie, Gronckles aren’t real, they are just pretend, and even if they were real, a dragon wouldn’t make a very good pet.”
What funny thing have you caught yourself saying to your geeklings lately?
