Where to Find Projects for Kids
Image by mightyohm on Flickr
Find kid-friendly projects online to keep you and your kids busy having fun and learning.
Depending upon your interests, there are hundreds probably thousands of website communities with great ideas for project for kids you can try out. Here are three sites with a few links to explore even further. While you can search online for types of projects, for example, electronic projects, these three sites make it easy to find different kinds of projects in one location.
Raspberry Pi
While there are tons of websites about RaspberryPi, the computer board designed for lots of fun projects, including the RaspberryPi foundation site, there’s also a Google+ community with a regular amount of projects for kids and news about this device. This week, for example, there’s a post on a SketchUp 3D model of the latest version of the computer board, project descriptions for media players, and an article about Dave Akerman who sends his Pis up into high atmosphere balloons over Europe.
Make Magazine
The founders and sponsors of Maker Faires everywhere (it seems), their online magazine site includes lots of projects to browse. Plus both the online and print magazine versions includes lots of useful background materials to help with 3D printing, solar projects, and electronics. This week there’s a project that detects whether or not you have washed your hands, with a big light board that flashes when you have not, as well as a few paper circuit projects.
Instructables
The idea for Instructables grew out of projects several friends did while at the MIT Media Lab, as a blog to document their hand-sewn kites and other projects. Spun off as a standalone website in 2006, the site lets anyone carefully document their projects, from technology to cooking to yarn to whatever gets people excited. While they have quite a few technology projects for kids, it’s a great place to branch out into other media. Contests and member ratings help sort out the best projects. This week, their projects include how to salvage those slippery bits of leftover soap from the shower, a cosmonaut glove, how to make seaweed salt, a $2 bill pad, and clap on lights.
Learn More
Raspberry Pi
Where to Buy a Pi
http://www.raspberrypi.org/buy/
https://www.adafruit.com/search?q=raspberry+pi
How to Install Raspberry Pi
http://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/
http://www.raspberrypi.org/help/noobs-setup/
Minecraft on Raspberry Pi
http://pi.minecraft.net/
http://www.raspberrypi.org/tag/minecraft/
How To Setup Minecraft On The Raspberry Pi
Includes screen shots, how to create a desktop icon on your Pi, and comments include solutions to save your Minecraft world. Be sure to read the comments to find issues and workarounds.
http://www.raspberrypi-spy.co.uk/2013/10/how-to-setup-minecraft-on-the-raspberry-pi/
http://picraftbukkit.webs.com/pi-minecraft-server-how-to
How to Setup a Minecraft Server
http://www.instructables.com/id/Raspberry-Pi-Minecraft-Server/?ALLSTEPS
Programming Minecraft
https://arghbox.wordpress.com/2013/06/13/programming-minecraft-pi-with-python-early-draft/
http://arghbox.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/minecraftbook.pdf
http://www.raspberrypi.org/learning-python-using-codecademy-and-raspberry-pi-minecraft-a-resource-of-great-note/
http://arghbox.wordpress.com/
http://www.stuffaboutcode.com/
http://www.scarabcoder.com/
http://blog.whaleygeek.co.uk/category/raspberry-pi/
http://mcpipy.wordpress.com/
How To Capture Minecraft Screenshots On The Raspberry Pi
http://www.raspberrypi-spy.co.uk/2014/05/how-to-capture-minecraft-screenshots-on-the-raspberry-pi/
Remote Control Your Pi (Look, No Monitor for Pi)
http://trevorappleton.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/remotely-connect-to-raspberry-pi-desktop.html
http://www.instructables.com/id/Setting-up-a-VNC-Server-on-your-Raspberry-Pi/?ALLSTEPS
http://elinux.org/RPi_VNC_Server
http://www.tightvnc.com/download.php
Connect to Your Raspberry Pi with SSH
http://trevorappleton.blogspot.com/2013/03/ssh-into-raspberry-pi.html
The One-Button Audio Book Player
Doesn’t require advanced skills. Do read the comments, however, for links and tips.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/clemens/2012/10/30/the-one-button-audiobook-player/
Coffee Table Pi
http://www.instructables.com/id/Coffee-Table-Pi/?ALLSTEPS
http://www.ikeahackers.net/2013/01/lack-arcade-coffee-table.html
Wolfram Language for Kids
http://www.calfuntech.cl/pdf/wolfram_language_for_kids.pdf
Make Your Garage Door Email, Tweet, or SMS
http://www.richlynch.com/2013/07/27/pi_garage_alert_1/
http://www.richlynch.com/2013/08/04/pi_garage_alert_2/
How to Rename Your Pi
www.raspberrypi-spy.co.uk/2012/11/how-to-rename-your-raspberry-pi/
Build a Raspberry Pi Case with Legos
http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/1354
http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/1515
http://tdb.brickowl.com/store/the-daily-brick-case-for-raspberry-pi-set
More and More and More Raspberry Pi Projects
https://plus.google.com/+raspberrypi/posts
http://www.raspberrypi.org/resources/
http://readwrite.com/2014/01/21/raspberry-pi-great-projects
http://www.instructables.com/tag/type-id/?sort=none&q=Raspberry+Pi
http://trevorappleton.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.daveakerman.com/
http://raspi.tv/
Where to Get Help with Raspberry Pi
http://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/
http://www.element14.com/community/community/raspberry-pi
http://elinux.org/RPi_Hub
http://elinux.org/RPi_VerifiedPeripherals
Make Magazine
http://makezine.com/
http://www.makershed.com/
http://makezine.com/projects/
Instructables
Also In The September 2014 Issue

How to Choose Great Toys
The best toy is one that is fun for your child and meets their needs. This article helps with ideas how to choose toys and where to find them.

Scratch
People use the Scratch language to create interactive stories, games, and animations. Includes an active community to share projects.

Jenn Choi Talks Raising Boys and Toys are Tools
Jenn Choi publishes an online magazine to help parents find toys while also helping to raise her two sons.

How to Draw
Learning how to draw is a great way to learn how to pay attention to detail, and learn what to leave out.

How to Describe a Database to a Child
Databases are mysterious but critical technology. Here's one simple way to describe them to kids (and adults).

Cookies
While not as delicious as real cookies, website cookies provide a critical and useful benefit for anyone who uses a website.

Luis Carbajosa Talks about Family, Tech, and Five Boys
Luis Carbajosa is a Civil Engineer in Spain who, with his wife, are raising five boys who love technology.
If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.

Teach Python to Kids
Contrary to what you might think, the Python programming language is not too complicated for kids to learn and use effectively.

Where to Find Projects for Kids
Find kid-friendly projects online to keep you and your kids busy having fun and learning.

Little Kids and Computer Science
Little kids and computer science might appear a odd match. Computer science sounds complex. But there is a curriculum for little kids.

September 2014 Learn More Links
Links from the bottom of all the September 2014 articles, collected in one place for you to print, share, or bookmark.

September 2014 News Wire
Interesting stories about computer science, software programming, and technology for the month of August 2014.