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Ask HN: Great maker projects for 8th grade kids and above?

12 points ostaquet | 2 comments | 17 Nov 24 10:36 UTC | HN request time: 0.43s | source

As a father of a 13-year-old kid, I tried to do my best to initiate him to different aspects of life. It could be watching a documentary about black holes, building coffee table or just enjoying a simple walk in nature.

I asked to some friends if they have great project idea that could be done by an 8th grade kid with or without support. I personally like to do it with him as it is a privileged time to build something together (for me) and learn new skills (for him).

The purpose of this thread is to assemble some ideas for Christmas presents.

I’m starting…

1. DIY LED Christmas tree kit for soldering (https://www.az-delivery.de/en/products/diy-weihnachtsbaum-kit-alles-inklusive-versandkostenfrei)

2. Software Defined Radios kit (https://www.rtl-sdr.com/about-rtl-sdr/ and https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CD7558GT)

3. DIY Internet Radio Alarm clock with touch screen control (https://www.az-delivery.de/en/products/radiowecker-mit-dem-az-touch)

Any other ideas or suggestions?

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eternityforest ◴[17 Nov 24 20:58 UTC] No.42167183[source]▶
I'm a really big fan of the more modern way of doing things.

A lot of old school maker projects are fun, but they're also basically E waste making kits now that phones do almost everything.

Not having a bunch of low tech gadgets laying around is really nice, they can easily become the biggest clutter challenge in a space, the same way paper used to back when more people still used it for things other than books.

Building a small solar energy system is fun and easy, and also practical.

3D printing is fantastic.

Meshtastic has a lot of DIY and learning potential and is like the lite edition of ham radio. What's really cool is that range testing gets you outside.

Maybe design something together with JLCPCB and have it made(Leave off any through hole connectors and solder them yourself for both fun and pretty decent cost savings).

replies(2): >>42167629 #>>42175653 #
1. rawgabbit ◴[17 Nov 24 21:49 UTC] No.42167629[source]▶
Any solar energy kit you would recommend for a hobbyist without breaking the bank?
replies(1): >>42168372 #
2. eternityforest ◴[17 Nov 24 23:43 UTC] No.42168372[source]▶
The prices change every 5 minutes for sales and such, but there's generally always a ton of 50 cents a watt solar panels on Amazon.

Permanent installs that work unattended are slightly scary and have to be done right so something doesn't leak or start a fire, but the portable folding panels are usually similarly cheap.

You could get one of those plus a charge controller and LiFePo4 for not too much.

Everything still needs to be done carefully though, and unfortunately almost all cheap charge controllers have a ton of idle power draw, they're kinda crappy compared to the tech built into a random cheap solar generator, I don't think you can make anything as nice as a commercial generator for cheap.

Most the DIY education kits for kids type stuff seem pretty crappy too.

An ESP32 module with onboard lithium charging plus a USB-C folding panel has a lot of possibilities though, if you have any projects ideas that could be done with such things.