| Author | |
cornomama4
Forum Pro
Joined: June 20 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 189
|
| Posted: Sept 09 2009 at 8:45pm | IP Logged
|
 |
|
I wasn't sure where to post this..The Great Outdoors seemed not quite right.....
I have a ds9 who is very mechanically inclined in that he watched Ben Hur with dh and went to his legos to build a Roman gallion complete with a lower deck of oarsmen and drummer. Same when he watched The Two Towers, he built Helm's Deep with a trap door and bomb for the big orc to breach the wall. I can't even count the number of spaceships and contraptions he's made, all with "imagination instructions" as he calls them.
My question: All these things are made of legos and sometimes K'NEX(sp?)but what's next for this kind of kid? Erector set? Plywood, hammer, nails and a prayer? He said he want to "build contraptions for the Science Museum" for a career. (he also said he wants to "be a farmer with a wife and 4 kids)
Any ideas for the engineering-oriented kids that's about to max out the lego potential? THANKS!
cm4
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
stefoodie
Forum Moderator
Joined: Feb 17 2005
Location: Ohio
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 8457
|
| Posted: Sept 09 2009 at 9:03pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
have you considered the Lego engineering sets? They're not available through stores, only through Lego's Education Division -- Homeschool Buyer's Co-Op also had them on offer recently, at about 35% off.
Lego Education
I'm thinking of having them join the local Lego league, but no time this year... so maybe next year. My ds (13) wants to major in Mech. Engg. like his dad one day.
here's another link: Lego Engineering products
hth!
__________________
stef
mom to five
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Joelle
Forum Rookie
Joined: July 19 2006
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 90
|
| Posted: Sept 09 2009 at 10:14pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Hey, this could be win-win. He thinks he's playing, I'm counting it as school! I have a 13 yo boy who LOVES legos still. He too has made a million contraptions and I was also wondering what was next. Thanks for the Lego heads-up Stef!
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Jen L.
Forum All-Star
Joined: Oct 18 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2148
|
| Posted: Sept 09 2009 at 10:43pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Afer Legos? LOL, My nephew built models of his own design until he was at least 18 and you could probably sit down with him now (he's 20) and he'd start to build immediately.
I always thought he'd love the Lego Mind Storms, but he never got into it. He is the type who would have done it if he'd some help or a club or some other motivation but never did.
__________________
Jen
dh Klete,ds (8/95),dd (12/97), dd (11/00), and ^2^ in heaven
"...the best state in which to glorify God is our actual state; the best grace is that of the moment..." St. Peter Eymard
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
MaryM
Board Moderator
Joined: Feb 11 2005
Location: Colorado
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 13104
|
| Posted: Sept 09 2009 at 11:52pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
And there are professional Lego engineers! The things they build are AMAZING. What a career for a Lego-loving kid.
__________________
Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
mom2mpr
Forum All-Star
Joined: May 16 2006
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1550
|
| Posted: Sept 10 2009 at 6:39am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I don't think he will max out, or grow out, of Legos.
My ds does not consider them a baby toy--at almost 12. My friends husband STILL builds with them. And he is 46!
Ds was able to take a robotics class. He enjoyed it but isn't begging for a robot. He just likes clicking them together and seeing things appear.
Anne
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Bookswithtea
Forum All-Star
Joined: July 07 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2621
|
| Posted: Sept 10 2009 at 6:45am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I don't think there is anything after Legos.  The sets just keep getting more difficult and more expensive, and then they move on to creating their own and doing Mindstorms or Lego competitions.
Ds has a friend through YG that is 15 or 16. He is really into legos, particularly lego trains. He googles pictures of old train cars and then builds models that look *exactly* like the real ones.
__________________
Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
StephanieA
Forum Pro
Joined: May 11 2006
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 394
|
| Posted: Sept 10 2009 at 8:38am | IP Logged
|
|
|
My boys got into Fishertechnik after doing Legos through grade school. Timberdoodle has sold educational sets for years. I am not sure they still do though. You can motorize the models. Fishertechnik actually screws together somewhat, so they won't fall apart like Legos. My boys played with Legos off and on until college. We used Fishertechnik as "school" too, counting it as a physics unit study. Engineering schools in Europe use Fishertechnik as modeling.
Blessings,
Stephanie
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
cornomama4
Forum Pro
Joined: June 20 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 189
|
| Posted: Sept 10 2009 at 8:39am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Thanks everyone. I guess I didn't really mean "after legos" as in "after he's tired of Legos" because I doubt that will ever happen. I guess I meant more what's next to help him develop this building and designing obsession.
I'm in no hurry for him to "move on". I think a lot of good brain work is going on and he'll probably ask for other building opportunities as he gets older, like helping me build the cold frame or the chicken tractor. Sometimes I feel unsure of how to lead these boys through the "all things mechanical" part of life, as that's not my forte. Liturature, math and even science I have a general idea of how to progress, but in this area I'm in unfamiliar territory. I guess that's why all MY building projects look so..umm..unprofessional  I'm just making it up as I go along!
I think it will all come along naturally as long as I'm tuned in and look for ways to introduce new ideas into the Lego building. Can't wait to start testing the Theorums in Physics with Lego!
Thanks again
cm4
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
CrunchyMom
Forum Moderator
Joined: Sept 03 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 6385
|
| Posted: Sept 10 2009 at 9:33am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I know it is different because my husband does carpentry and includes our boys naturally, but I do think that plywood, hammer, nails, and a prayers is worth considering. At nine, he could certainly be taught to take care of tools and use them safely to design and build things.
__________________
Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
sunny
Forum Pro
Joined: Feb 10 2008
Location: Florida
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 205
|
| Posted: Sept 10 2009 at 12:43pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I havent bought either of these yet, but I have heard great things about and am very interested in both zoob and zometoools. (sorry I dont have time to link)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Natalia
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Louisiana
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1343
|
| Posted: Sept 10 2009 at 2:04pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
My son loves his Kapla set. Those simple wooden planks can become great looking creations.
Kapla chinese house
Kapla Blocks
__________________
Natalia
http://pannuestrodecadadia.blogspot.com
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
ekbell
Forum All-Star
Joined: May 22 2009
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 747
|
| Posted: Sept 10 2009 at 3:22pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
My 42 year old husband states "The only engineer who doesn't play with lego doesn't have any."
The only problem with growing up is finding time to play with the 10+ thousands of lego he could finally afford to buy.
However this site has some interesting products from Germany both for woodworking and general construction
http://mvcs.biz/shoppingcart/
I have no experience with that particular online store but both product lines are used by adult hobbyists.
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Jen L.
Forum All-Star
Joined: Oct 18 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2148
|
| Posted: Sept 10 2009 at 3:50pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I was just coming back to post about Kapla 
__________________
Jen
dh Klete,ds (8/95),dd (12/97), dd (11/00), and ^2^ in heaven
"...the best state in which to glorify God is our actual state; the best grace is that of the moment..." St. Peter Eymard
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
ALmom
Forum All-Star
Joined: May 18 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3299
|
| Posted: Sept 10 2009 at 6:36pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
cm4:
Your son sounds familiar to my now 12 year old. He loves legos - even duplos make great grenades if you use a rubber band or two.
As someone else said, legos are never ending - but at some point they do want to do things with more power and legos are expensive. It is much cheaper to use wood, pipe, and old motors, old textbooks, some batteries. My boys are the scrap experts. I forget now where they scrounged their motors and scrap wiring but we now have a motorized submarine and paddle boat. My son plans to do something else to the submarine for ballast or something - some thing about how it floats and sinks. They study the technical specs of all kinds of stuff from aircraft to boats to .... and then they build.
The other thing is that they move into the real as well as the play - so it is great to have a few folks besides dad that can repair the u- trap thingy under the sink that is always getting clogged (ie take it apart and put it back together). They also build tree forts and want to use all kinds of tools including the power ones. They designed an elevator with pulleys - yikes! We even made things more real by having daddy be the safety inspector. We didn't let them use power tools at 9, at 12 dad supervises closely. And yes, mom does pray a lot.
Don't ever get rid of the legos, but have lots of neat scrap parts. Whenever something breaks down that you cannot or don't plan to fix, it becomes the boys to use/fix as they see fit. I'm thinking it was an old VCR that supplied the motor.
Janet
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Marjorie
Forum Pro
Joined: June 15 2006
Location: Georgia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 230
|
| Posted: Sept 11 2009 at 11:39am | IP Logged
|
|
|
See if there is a First Lego League team in your area. They use Legos and robotics to program a robot to complete complex tasks for competition. My girls are starting their second year with FLL and it is very challenging but worthwhile.
__________________
Yours in Christ,
Marjorie
Lettres de mon Moulin
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Forum Locked) 
4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: what's after legos?
