Lots of good suggestions in here. In the end, none of us know your daughter. If you are out of ideas on things to do with her, take her with you to something you enjoy doing. If you’re enthusiastic about it, she might be too. Also, there’s nothing wrong with uneducational fun either. Watch a movie or find shapes in the clouds. Be silly and teach her how to laugh on a budget.
Ask HN: How to keep my daughter busy while tickling her curiosity
51–60 of 227 posts
Re: Ask HN: How to keep my daughter busy while tickling her curiosity
#52I did the Mark Rober Creative Engineering class with my daughters and we all had a blast. We made a apple slicing guillotine, a s’more assembly machine, and a robotic arduino-controlled bird. We finished the class 18 months ago and they still talk about it. They were 7 and 9 yrs old at the time. The key is to not do it all at once but to pace out the videos and exercises and truly do when he teaches, from brainstormi…
Just that day I was showing Arduino to my daughter - I know very little about hardware so we would be both learning if we went with the starter kit (that fact made her happy). Thanks for sharing this.
Re: Ask HN: How to keep my daughter busy while tickling her curiosity
#53You are unemployed, so I cannot judge your financial means, but I keep seeing this pop up in my feeds and it might be cool for you and your daughter to build together: https://www.kiwico.com/
Re: Ask HN: How to keep my daughter busy while tickling her curiosity
#54If you are in the US - public libraries are a wonderful resource for kids to visit.
Re: Ask HN: How to keep my daughter busy while tickling her curiosity
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
> When I ask him what he wants to do he says "I don't know" A blogger I read a while ago (I completely forget who) wrote something about this that stuck with me: if you ask a kid if they want pancakes or cereal for breakfast, they'll pick one and be delighted. If you ask them what they'd like to have without presenting options, this can lead to a complete meltdown. Picking from infinite options, forcing them to think…
Sounds plausible, but IME doesn't actually work with real kids
Works well with mine. He’s got 3 choices most mornings.
Re: Ask HN: How to keep my daughter busy while tickling her curiosity
#56Maybe look at building up manual skills if possible. When my daughter was 11 y/o I as doing a lot of DIY plumbing in the house and I taught her to cut and bend (copper) pipes, and solder pipe joints. We used a gas torch, much to the horror of my S.O, but it was a useful skill learned and she got really good at it.
Re: Ask HN: How to keep my daughter busy while tickling her curiosity
#57Being unemployed probably means you don't have a huge budget, but some for our child I've tried to do a little bit of "everything" to see what he enjoys. When I ask him what he wants to do he says "I don't know", so I say "We're going swimming in the sea", "Lets plant some seeds", "Today we're cooking / sewing", "Lets pick a spot on the map and go visit it by bus/tram", or "Lets draw pokemon evolving". (maps are kind…
> When I ask him what he wants to do he says "I don't know"
I had to reach the age of 22 and get the chance to use computers for the first time in my life to figure that out ... he will be ok :)
Re: Ask HN: How to keep my daughter busy while tickling her curiosity
#58Being unemployed probably means you don't have a huge budget, but some for our child I've tried to do a little bit of "everything" to see what he enjoys. When I ask him what he wants to do he says "I don't know", so I say "We're going swimming in the sea", "Lets plant some seeds", "Today we're cooking / sewing", "Lets pick a spot on the map and go visit it by bus/tram", or "Lets draw pokemon evolving". (maps are kind…
> Does he genuinely prefer my music, or is it something about me?
This is a very insightful question. Although I can’t answer for your child, I know mine takes an interest in almost anything that i show love or curiosity for. If I express love for a song (not with words but by singing it, dancing to it, etc), he will ask to hear it again and again.
Does his mother show a love for music and specific songs?
Re: Ask HN: How to keep my daughter busy while tickling her curiosity
#59[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: How to keep my daughter busy while tickling her curiosity
#60You both might enjoy an Australian TV series called "Curiosity Show".
It is science / technology focused and aimed at kids around your daughters age.
They explain a lot of fun sciencey things, puzzles and magic tricks that can be made at home from very easy to find parts.
The YT channel has over 1000 short videos : https://youtube.com/c/CuriosityShow
It was made in the 70s and 80s yet much is still totally relevant today. Even the occasional thing that is out of date might be a fun history discussion.