Post by thread:[OT]: Xmas presents (was Blue LEDs)

Hi Ken, >Has anyone introduced kids around this age to PICs? Any comments, suggestions? I've got an 8 yr old boy. A PIC or even a Basic Stamp would be so far out of his comprehension that it would be less interesting than socks and underwear for Christmas. But not every kid is the same. He might think that batteries, wire, switches, lights (self-flashing LED with pre-wired series resistor) and a buzzer (DIY burglar alarm) would be really cool. Hmmmm, I haven't done my shopping yet. Lyle Killough -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.

I agreed with some of the members comments, "Don't underestimate an 8 years old". This is especially true when comes to the formula; boy + electronics. Somehow, the 2 can clicked very well (perhaps, same goes for; girl + barbie dolls). I remember when I was about 10 (although not 8), I bought myself an electroinc kit (those that comes with lots of electronic components and a board with lots of springs for solderless connections) and I was thrill when I 'built' my first AM radio (although I followed the instructions). When I grew up, I did not touch electronics at all until some 30+ years later (which is now), I pick it up as a hobby again. Lyle Killough <spam_OUTlyleTakeThisOuTSUREGRIPCONTROLS.COM> wrote: Hi Ken, >Has anyone introduced kids around this age to PICs? Any comments, suggestions? I've got an 8 yr old boy. A PIC or even a Basic Stamp would be so far out of his comprehension that it would be less interesting than socks and underwear for Christmas. But not every kid is the same. He might think that batteries, wire, switches, lights (self-flashing LED with pre-wired series resistor) and a buzzer (DIY burglar alarm) would be really cool. Hmmmm, I haven't done my shopping yet. Lyle Killough -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details. --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.

When I was in the third grade, my mom taught at my school and so I often found myself stuck at school for hours in evenings after class. I taught myself simple Basic programming on a TI99/4A, up to and including minor graphics. I also found an electronics kit with batteries, motors, a simple D'Arsenval ammeter, a few switches, a hefty solenoid and a big relay. I had a great time learning about current flow and voltage, but would have had a better time with someone to explain heat caused by short circuits and, most especially, inductive kickback. The short story is, don't underestimate these kids. IF they find it interesting and if you don't make it feel like learning, they'll very likely play with it for hours and hours. Mike H. {Quote hidden}>Hi Ken, > > >Has anyone introduced kids around this age to PICs? Any comments, >suggestions? > >I've got an 8 yr old boy. A PIC or even a Basic Stamp would be so far >out of his comprehension that it would be less interesting than socks >and underwear for Christmas. But not every kid is the same. > >He might think that batteries, wire, switches, lights (self-flashing LED >with pre-wired series resistor) and a buzzer (DIY burglar alarm) would >be really cool. Hmmmm, I haven't done my shopping yet. > >Lyle Killough > >-- >http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different >ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details. _________________________________________________________________ Get holiday tips for festive fun. http://special.msn.com/network/happyholidays.armx -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.

At 02:37 PM 12/10/2003 -0800, you wrote: >Hi Ken, > > >Has anyone introduced kids around this age to PICs? Any comments, >suggestions? > >I've got an 8 yr old boy. A PIC or even a Basic Stamp would be so far >out of his comprehension that it would be less interesting than socks >and underwear for Christmas. But not every kid is the same. > >He might think that batteries, wire, switches, lights (self-flashing LED >with pre-wired series resistor) and a buzzer (DIY burglar alarm) would >be really cool. Hmmmm, I haven't done my shopping yet. I'm thinking of something like this for a boy of the same age: www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000683A4/102-4466402-9608161 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000683A4/102-4466402-9608161?v=glance&s=toys&me=A3UN6WX5RRO2AG&vi=pictures&img=14#more-pictures The high end version is 89.95 US list, which isn't too bad for an Xmas present. I like the way the components have their schematic symbol on them. Best regards, Spehro Pefhany --"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward" .....speffKILLspam@spam@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.

Hi Spehro, Neat product Spehro -- thanks for the links! I grew up with those Radio Shack 100-in-1 or so electronic experimenter boards with the spring connectors and had a blast. Then I received a digital experimenter board with a few flip-flops, gates, LEDs etc one Christmas. I remember not "getting it" and was quite disappointed at the time -- seemed boring and not as exciting as my other kit with all the sound effects. Funny thing how my tastes have change -- I came to love digital stuff later on in life. Things really picked up when in I was introduced to the 8080A microprocessor and the MMD-I trainer board. I think I'll go down to the local Radio Shack to see what they have to offer in the experimenter boards. I always try to get my nephews educational gifts: radiometers, solar-powered motors, etc. The item you mentioned would definitely up the ante. I would like to introduce them to electronics at a basic level and see what happens. I definitely don't want to push them into anything, just expose them to a lot of different things and see what they naturally gravitate to. My younger nephew absolutely loves to help me in the kitchen and he loves the homemade English Toffee that I make. It's easy at times to get caught up in our own work and we sometimes tend to forget that we all can have a very positive effect on someone's life, and we can help pass on the knowledge that we have gained in the process of making our own mistakes and through our tribulations. I personally am humbled being on the PICLIST (I have so much to learn) and love hanging out here. If anyone else sees some neat educational electronic/computer item for kids, please chime in. Best regards, Ken Pergola -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email listservKILLspammitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

> I agreed with some of the members comments, "Don't > underestimate an 8 years old". This is especially true when > comes to the formula; boy + electronics. I my experience at age 8-12 girl + DIY kits (soldering work) go together better than boy + the same. Somewehere around 12-14 this turns around. Wouter van Ooijen -- ------------------------------------------- Van Ooijen Technische Informatica: http://www.voti.nl consultancy, development, PICmicro products -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email .....listservKILLspam.....mitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

On Wednesday, Dec 10, 2003, at 23:29 US/Pacific, Wouter van Ooijen wrote: > >> I agreed with some of the members comments, "Don't >> underestimate an 8 years old". if your 8-year old is showing geekish tendencies already - lego, k'nex, game-level building, science books, taking things apart, soldering together electronics kits, using the electronics experiment kits, using text and graphics editors, reading SF, tearing apart old equipment and asking how it works... That's wonderful, and maybe they're ready for a microcomputer and programming. But I think it would be foolish to plunk a PIC in front of someone that age who did not have any existing geek background... I've wanted to design a "stealth introduction to programming" system based on blinking LEDs. A PC program with "skins" for different sorts of objects - jewelry, model cars, bike accessories, costume bits. You get to tell it what you want the LEDs to do, and it shows you it happening on a nice screen picture. When it looks right, you download it into real hardware (an LED stamp?, but matching the "skin" pictures.) You'd start out just specifying the LED patterns pictorially: ...oo... ..o..o.. .o....o. o......o and it would loop. Then you'd get progressively more complicated until you were writing stuff that looked an awful lot like C code: for i = 1 to 10 { led1.brightness = i; led2.brightness = 10-i; delay(ONESEC/10); } :-) BillW PS: I had one of those interesting moments with my daughter. I was showing her how to cheat at "wild wild words" (a hangman-like game) by using regexp search to search /usr/share/dict/words. She understood the bit about using . wherever a letter was missing, but I had a real time trying to figure out how to explain how/why ^J was used at the beginning and end of the word... -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email EraseMElistservspam_OUTTakeThisOuTmitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

> Theres more... > http://elenco.com/ > College classes here use these in the introductory classes... they build the multimeter and power supply. Kits are very well done and pcb's are labeled real well, but watch for typos/errors on the schematics. The diode bridge on the xp720 has been wrong on the schematic for quite some time. But overall a nice bunch of products! Keith L. Kovala @spam@klkKILLspamrenderedelement.com -- http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList KILLspampiclist-unsubscribe-requestKILLspammitvma.mit.edu

My 13 year old grand daughter built the $10 Christmas tree from JameCo last evening in my shop. It was a fun evening for both of us. She had never tried a soldering iron before. The only problem was a pad that lifted due to excess heat and rough handling. It made us both proud! I will continue to try to influence her! John Ferrell 6241 Phillippi Rd Julian NC 27283 Phone: (336)685-9606 RemoveMEjohnferrellTakeThisOuTearthlink.net home.sprintmail.com/~johnferrell/dixiecompetitionproducts/ NSRCA 479 AMA 4190 W8CCW "My Competition is Not My Enemy" -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics