Science project

Hi

Please help!

My 6 yr old son has to build an egg carrier that moves. Not hard you say. Well yes I agree, but how do I get a 6yr old autistic boy to learn engineering?????

youtube must have some old “great egg race” vids – would that help ?

Teach him that if he pushes the egg carton it will move.

Moves itself with elastic bands round axles sort of thing, or can be moved, so just wheels?

I was thinking about making the egg carrier crash resistant somehow….could be fun doing do ‘field testing’

Thought we could make wheels and axels too, and a rubber band motor.

If it has to be powered that sounds a bit much for a 6 year old. When I was 8/9 years old we use to race each other’s cotton reel tanks, but there’s no way you could transport an egg on them – you’ll need something a lot more complex than that. Unless you are going to design and build it for him I can’t see how he stands any chance, autism or no autism. Actually my nephew’s autism would probably have helped him find the determination to build something like that when he was that age – had he been interested of course, otherwise it would have been a disadvantage. But autism affects different children differently I believe.

Cotton reel tank :

Am I right in thinking that cotton reel tank uses friction matches, and candle wax?
Hope your races didn’t need to many restarts 🙂

Edit- and don’t go pretending it I something to do with reducing friction you pyro you!

Only the German panzers had friction matches, as they were allowed to explode and catch fire on the battlefield, British tanks never suffered such fates 🙂

Actually I never thought about that …… oh those were the days, before health and safety and the nanny state gone mad – we lived dangerously 8)

How about a balloon powered device? It can be pump inflated if his lungs aren’t strong enough. A line of thin cord/ fishing-line stretched across the room as a guideline will perhaps!!! be needed. Just thread the line through a length of drinking straw and then stiky-tape it to the inflated balloon.

I was about to say balloon powered. Or bottle-rocket powered. Or, with a little care, coke/mento powered could be fun.

Erm… isn’t the idea to ask him?

Erm… at 6 you might need to plant a few seeds (even without autism issues)? I just thank (some random unimportant) god the OP cares enough to think about it and want to help his kid learn, plenty would say “it’s your problem, get on with it”.

Maybe the OP come back with the ideas the kid has come up with that we could help come to fruition 🙂

Maybe the OP come back with the ideas the kid has come up with that we could help come to fruition

As I said, you need to plant seeds of ideas and let them decide, not just sit and wait for them to generate the ideas and then find a way to make them work.

Yep, no-one has ever had an original thought…

indeed, just about every thought and advance out there is preceeded by a review of what’s currently available and learning what’s accepted practice, not just plucked out of the air in a strike of engineering brilliance 😉

Stop being a fool. Clearly if the kid had had any great ideas he’d not be asking on here, hence I suspect he’s looking for ways to inspire him, not argumentative arses who think learning is all about being left alone to think until you come up with ‘the’ answer.

You’re right of course, “his” idea should work 100% first time and shock the world

I think the fun and learning achieved will be directly proportional to the speed the egg travels at.

Help him out by all means but please be sure to have a word with his teacher if he is being setH
H/W tasks that are beyond him.

Thanks all..

I love the balloon idea. Video evidence of build will follow this thread…0nce design has need agreed in principal by head engineer….which might be tricky, as he’s currently highly excited by all of the chocolate on the dining room table.

I like the idea of field tests with crashing – you could use lots of materials and see which worked best – nothing, cotton wool, suspended in water etc.

currently highly excited by all of the chocolate on the dining room table.

It’s certainly a prime factor in many abandoned engineering projects of mine.

Sorry I can’t help but the subject gave me a flash back to THIS 😀