What do educational hobbies offer your daughter?
She’s into Barbies and mermaids and everything pink right now, and that’s great, but one of these days you’ll look at her and wonder if she’s thinking outside of herself enough. Educational hobbies, not just toys, spark the ingenuity she’s going to need to succeed in her generation. She will learn how to master a craft.
Lindberg's Transparent Horse is a precisely detailed kit featuring a complete horse skeleton that is anatomically accurate with soft internal organs. An instruction manual helps horse lovers learn about equine anatomy.
If she’s introduced to a hobby that includes science, and she learns to love it, she’s much more likely to get into a good college with some great opportunities that might finance her career. Her generation, now more than ever, is going to need strong, intelligent leadership in not only the female community, but in the world in general. We are in desperate need of people who know “how.” I think hobbies are a catalyst for that.
While I think that argument stands alone, I will say that those moments spent together are so worthwhile. I truly love the times I get to spend with my kids working on something together.
A hobby is something that you enjoy doing over time, that you add to or make, that interests you enough to stick with it and find out more. One thing I’ve noticed about hobbyists is that they learn how to be an expert at a thing. That’s important.
Educational hobbies for kids
Consider how engaging in one of these hobbies might enrich your child’s life. Maybe there’s something on this list you already do, think about handing it down through the generations. These can be some rewarding opportunities.
- Rocketry
- Stamp collecting
- Gardening
- Remote control cars
- Bug collecting
- Painting, drawing
- Astronomy
There’s many more out there. Isn’t it time that you learned more about educational hobbies?
Tags: educational hobbies
Fun with a Stomp Rocket
by Nabeel H on flickr
If you’re into educational hobbies and practice the fine art of promoting your kids’ educational awareness, then I’m sure at some point your kids have wondered how to make a rocket. Most moms would say, “Dad will be home soon, he’ll help you,” but not you. You’re not “most moms” and you’re going to figure this puppy out! I’ve been there. I can help.
First of all, you’ll be glad to know, you don’t have to make a rocket from scratch. You can find rockets and rocket kits for every age group and skill level at your local hobby shop or online hobby retailer.
I recommend you start easy and small with your very young ones. Stomp rockets can entertain your five-year old safely with rockets that only go 100 feet in the air and are made of foam. The concept is, you step on the air-filled paddle that is attached to a small hose and it pushes air with pressure to launch the foam rocket into the sky. You’re looking at around $5.00 - $10.00, maybe a little more, but not much.
But if your little darling wants one NOW, here’s an idea:
How to make a rocket
Don’t get intimidated learning how to make a rocket; NASA has this all figured out. I would try this with my elementary-age child. You’ll know your child’s attention span well enough to know if he or she is ready.
I will say this. Don’t wait for a “better time.” Two of my children have graduated; Two more graduate this year and my youngest is starting high school. I can tell you there is no better time to interest them in science than right now. If you don’t endorse educational hobbies as a parent early on, you will not get the chance later because they simply won’t care. And this isn’t just for the boys! If you have a daughter, she absolutely needs to get a thrill from science. Science teaches children how to think for themselves and problem solve.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 2 liter plastic soda bottle
- 2 drinking straws, one larger than the other
- small amount of modeling clay
- two strips of paper: 5 x 1 inch and 3 x 1 inch
- tape
Take the lid and label off the soda bottle. Stop up the top with some of the clay. Stick the small straw through it so you can see it inside.
Take the strips of paper and form them into two cones around each end of the larger straw. The small cone becomes the rocket tip and the larger becomes its tail section. Stop up the rocket tip with a small ball of modeling clay.
Now, slip the “rocket” onto the smaller straw inside the soda bottle. Stand up the soda bottle, and squeeze! Voila! Just some simple air rocketry, folks. Nobody gets hurt.
Learn more safe rocket making ideas on the NASA site, The Space Place.
Tags: educational hobbies, how to make a rocket, local hobby shop
the collector 2 by Lamerie on flickr
A world of opportunity opens up when you start to learn about a stamp. Philately takes something that you may generally take for granted to a whole other level. One of the more interesting educational hobbies, philately teaches us about history, geography, politics, and art, all inside the borders of a postage stamp.
Philately concerns the who, what, where’s, and whys of the small picture, making it much larger. For instance, some collections might include one or more of these categories:
- Olympics
- Sports figures
- Wildflowers
- A certain country
- National treasures
- Political figures
- Comic book characters
- Aircraft
It’s a lot of fun to talk with your children about these stamps. Far more compelling than just the removal of the paper from the back of the stamp, philately is a way of engaging in the past through pictorial imagery, and preserving it for the future.
Educational hobbies like philately are wonderful to hand from generation to generation. Happy collecting!
Visit USPS Stamp Collecting to learn more.
Tags: educational hobbies, stamp philately, stamps
What can you see? by Jorg Weingrill on flickr
Initially in astronomy, there is not a huge financial investment. Just go outside and look up. Instant success. You see stars.
But then, there comes a thirst for more. What are the stars made of? Why do they move in the sky? And what’s all this winking and twinkling about? Questions you haven’t thought of since you wore Superman underwear. These worthy inquiries are easily answered in a trip to your local library.
Then it really happens. You find out your very own town has an astronomy club. “Come see the stars!” they entice you! “Free Star Party this Saturday!” Armed with a thermos of hot cocoa and cookies your wife made, you tramp up Star Party hill. And you see it all - not just the stars and galactic nuclei, but all those TELESCOPES.
WOW.
Your wife is not happy about trading the car for a telescope. Call her crazy, but a telescope doesn’t pick up the groceries or take kids to ballet. In fact, it’s a gadget to look at things that have been around since before either of you were around. You’re just all-fired up on doing it now. And yes, most of those sparkley things up there will be up there when you retire, so why not just wait until then?
“Because the purpose of life to experience happiness, which can only be experienced in the present moment,” explains the Dalai Lama, quite patiently.
“But the Dalai Lama does not have four children and two mortgages,” your wife counters. So what are you to do?
Astronomy club telescopes are available for members, but what if you want something of your very own right now? (We are, after all, Americans.) And you want to share astronomy with your kids, and you’re not likely to share an expensive telescope with those grubby hands. There must be a happy alternative. But what?
Go get a raft. The inflatable kind you have lurking somewhere in your garage already. Set it up on the grass, and pull out a pair of binoculars. A good pair. Add cocoa and cookies, and you have an instant star party worthy of any amateur astronomer.
How to pick a good pair of binoculars?
Binoculars - a working collection by jlcwalker on flickr
Here are some ideas that may work for you (excerpted from Backyard Astronomer’s Guide by Dyer and Dickinson):
Larger main lenses mean brighter images, but for most people, a 50mm lens is a practical handheld limit. Binoculars with a 7mm exit pupil are easier to bring to correct position in front of the eye, an advantage for young people and beginners of any age.
Higher magnification means better resolution, but it also means more stringent optical-quality standards to produce good images. It also results in amplified jiggling during handheld operation. This factor alone limits binocular magnification for handheld astronomical viewing to 10x.
Put it all together, the most popular sizes are 7×50 and 10×50. If you prefer smaller and lighter, go for the 7×42 or 8×42. Why not just go for the 10×50s, since biggest means best? Well, because aiming and observing through binoculars at night is much easier for some than others. In our experience, 7×50s are much easier to use. On the other hand, 10×50s yield fainter stars and more Moon and celestial object detail.
More detail makes sense, but why are dimmer stars more apparent? Part of the reason is that the smaller exit pupil helps avoid the edge-of-eye aberrations (producing sharper stars), but mainly, it is that the higher magnification in effect spreads out the sky background, darkening it in the process.
Roof prism binoculars are more compact than porro prism in sizes under 42, and are generally more costly. For general astronomy binoculars at a reasonable price, we recommend porro prism models in 7×50 and 10×50.
RECOMMENDATIONS for general astronomy glasses:
These two stand out, both in the $200 range: Vista 10×50 by Orion and Ultima 10×50 by Celestron. Both are 27 ounces (exceptionally lightweight for 50mm binoculars) and very sharp 5.3-degree fields and good eye relief. In the $100 range, the Bausch & Lomb 10×50 and 7×50 Legacy are ideal beginner binoculars for astronomy. A lightweight tripod and L-adapter are great additions for an upgrade. Go enjoy your night sky!
About the Author:
Since 1996, Aurora Lipper has been helping families learn science. As a pilot, astronomer, engineer, rocket scientist, and former university instructor, Aurora can transform toilet paper tubes into real working radios and make robots from junk in the back desk drawer.
You can download the free science experiment workbook at http://www.SuperchargedScience.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com
Tags: amateur astronomer, astronomy kids, binoculars astronomy
Flying a kite is more than child’s play. Just ask Ray McCully, secretary of the New Zealand Kite Flyers’ Association. He has a collection of over 100 kites. On a good day, he and his wife Rosemary might have 50 - 60 of them aloft at one time. This educational hobby has even taken them around the world.
It all began 19 years ago when their daughters received a kite from grandma. Mom wanted to know why some kites flew and others didn’t. She found a book, made a kite and must have enjoyed the process. Kite flying became a hobby that the whole family could enjoy.
Read the entire story, “The wind beneath his wings.”
Photo Credit: luiginter on Flickr
Tags: educational hobby, kite flying
Deep inside every child (regardless of age) there lurks a design engineer. “Tim the Toolman” Taylor was always tinkering with things to make them perform better. We know what Tim’s results were; we saw them on television watching “Tool Time.”
Educational Hobbies in the Classroom
Balsa Bridge Examples
Teachers can release the creativity in their students through simple exercises in design. An example of this would be to have your students create bridges.
Students would create a balsa bridge across a specified span … say twenty-four inches that would support the greatest amount of weight.
Alternatively, students could use such things as plastic drinking straws, toothpicks, popsicle sticks, paper or other materials deemed appropriate in the ground rules for the project.
Whether it is in the classroom, the family room or kitchen at home, this can be a fun and exciting project for the whole family.
You can find many of the items needed for these projects at your local hobby shop, craft store or even at your favorite grocery store.
This experiment in design has an International following. Students around the globe compete at sanctioned events to test their design and building skills. Who knows, maybe one of your kids might be the one who designs the next major bridge expanse such as the Gold Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
A recent article in the Union-Tribune touts what most moms have known all along - united moms are happy moms. Ask any mom of a toddler or a teenager, and they’ll tell you that the bonds of friendship with other moms go a long way toward preserving their sense of sanity.
Of course, one way to build or strengthen those friendships is through shared activities and interests. You might simply go for a walk together each morning or take turns planning free activities with the little ones. Maybe you’re a book hound and would enjoy getting together with your girlfriends and others in a book club.
Getting together over shared hobby projects is an old standby. Discover what skill sets reside in your group of friends or research some educational hobby ideas where you can all learn a new skill together. Think outside the box … you’re not limited to the typical “mommy hobbies.”
Try your hand at stained glass, build a miniature doll house or village, or learn about astronomy. Yes, each of these educational hobbies can be pursued individually, but we’re social creatures. It’s a lot more fun to learn new skills and try new things with our friends!
Read more United Moms Are Happy Moms.
Don’t tell your kids that these are educational hobbies. That’s tantamount to telling them that the delicious snack you just offered is “nutritious!” When was the last time that label did you any favors?
Instead, leave the educational for kids part out and let them discover that they’re having fun (gasp) learning!
- Kids are natural collectors. At least my boys were … don’t ask me what I found in their jeans pockets! (Laundry day was always an adventure.) Nurture their obsession with interesting rocks, feathers, sea shells or what have you, by providing them with a way to organize and display their collections.
- Rocks can be tumbled and polished and turned into unique jewelery or craft items.
- Interesting feathers can be used for fly tying. This intricate hands-on hobby builds hand-eye coordination and provides useful fly fishing lures.
- Sea shells can be used in or on photo frames, incorporated into furnishings, or if the shape is right … they make an interesting home for a hermit crab.
- History becomes real when kids get involved in stamp collecting. Think of all the stories that surround just one of our US postage stamps. Incorporate the stories into the stamp collection. Your child’s teachers will thank you!
- If your child is into baseball, by all means, encourage him or her to collect baseball cards. Here’s an opportunity to learn about the legends AND learn about negotiating and trading.
I’m sure this short list only scratches the surface. What educational and collectible hobbies do your kids enjoy?
Tags: baseball cards, collectible hobbies, educational for kids, educational hobbies, stamp collection
Is it possible to generate electricity with a kite? California-based Makani Power is working toward that goal. They’re developing giant kites to harness high-altitude winds, expecting it will generate more than 10 times the energy of a wind turbine.
What does this have to do with educational hobbies? Like all great ideas, they have to start somewhere. This one began with an interest in kite flying and electricity.
What might we all accomplish, if from time-to-time, we’d simply “go fly a kite?”
Read more about high-altitude wind power on Red Herring.
Image Credit: ronnie44052 on flickr
Once you start looking for ideas for educational hobbies, you’ll find they pop up everywhere!
Here’s an idea from the 2008 Riverfestival in Brisbane, Australia. They’ve combined trash cleanup and creativity to teach children about caring for the environment in a constructive way.
A new exhibit at the festival will include 350 kites made from plastic bags, 700 plastic bottles made into
costumes and artwork and a collection of 1 million bread tags that will stretch across the Victoria Bridge.”
The exhibition called ‘Out of the river … imagine’ is based on the amount of rubbish that Healthy Waterways removes from the Brisbane River every week.
Think about it … all of those plastic bags, bottles, and bread tags pulled out of the river each week!
Kudos to the organizers of this event, and to all the artists and school groups that are involved. This is an innovative way to teach an important concept to children and the community-at-large.
Read more: Rubbish artworks highlight environment awareness
Tags: caring for the environment, educational hobbies, recycling