Giving New Meaning to Parenting

Wondering what to give adventurous young scientists for the Holidays? We have it down to a fine art here at Casa Darwin.

My kids are into natural science in a big way, especially my eldest. Or maybe it’s ONLY my eldest, and he makes us go along with his mad biology professor ways through the sheer force of his will? At any rate, we seem to spend half our lives looking at some new bug, worm or leaf; tasting a strange fruit; smooshing through muddy creeks in search of a rare specimen. “Ah! Macrobrachium Crosinus!” he announces, and we nod and say “Aaah.”

In the stores you will see many expensive (or worse yet, cheap) science kits. Little containers whose lids don’t fit properly, plastic magnifying glasses that get scratched and you can’t see through, a microscope that’s so fancy you hardly dare take it out of its box. Sometimes they come all together in a fancy bag or package which immediately falls apart. I know. We’ve tried them all.

So over the years we have become experts at packing our own kit of Mad Science Necessities, the things we have found we really need at a moment’s notice. You can add to this list if you like, but you don’t want to have so much STUFF that you end up leaving it at home in exasperation. Your whole kit should fit into a medium-ish bucket with a handle, and you can take it EVERYWHERE. Best of all at this time of year, most of these items make good “stocking stuffers”.

Your Mad Scientist will need:

(Warning! Patient, vigilant adult supervision is essential with glass, knives, insects and bodies of water! Do not let small explorers out of your sight!)

* A bucket. This will hold all of your other stuff, and you can use it for scooping up water, catching jellyfish, and filling with dirt or sand. A good little shovel is great too.

* A small glass aquarium. You’ll need one with at least one flat side, not the completely round ones which look cute but are difficult to see into. You will be amazed at your new thoughts about pond slime and its tiny inhabitants, once seen from this perspective. It’s so cool to look at stuff in a glass aquarium, but they are dangerously breakable so you will ALSO need:

* A small plastic aquarium, normally used for breeding fighter fish. These have a lid (with air holes) and a handle, so they can be carried around and the catches won’t escape. These are great for bugs and spiders too, and sometimes come with dividers. You can find these at aquarium stores.

* A “brine shrimp net”. This is a very fine mesh fishing net, for dipping into drains and puddles and transferring their contents to your aquariums. Teeny weeny larvae and bugs can be found in still water, and these are fascinating to look at in your flat-sided glass aquarium.

* A larger, sturdier net, for catching fish, frogs, butterflies and bugs. And little brothers.

* A good GLASS magnifying glass. Find this in a stationery store.

* A kids’ microscope. A cheap one with low magnification (100x) is actually best, since the really high magnifications are difficult for small kids to see and understand. With 100x magnifications, you can look at the spines on a ant’s leg, the scaly wing of a butterfly, monstrous wrigglers in pond slime. The objects are still recognizable, but there’s so much more to them than you thought. You can even see the intestines of an earthworm, if you squish it between two slides and light it from below, and if you are lucky the intestines will still be moving! EEWWW! You will need a lamp or torch to light up behind your slides, if it doesn’t come with a light, although bright sunlight is often good enough. You will need two slides, for placing your tiny things between to look at. Plastic slides are fine, this isn’t university! Just try not to let them get scratched. Our microscope is plastic and the mirror is cracked, and we throw it into the bucket with everything else. It works just fine! (This year, one son has asked Santa for a “Digital High-Res Microscope With Light”, upping the ante somewhat.)

* A torchlight. Waterproof is best, but any torch is a great thing to have anyway, even if you only ever use it under the bed.

* A notebook. A small kit with a few colours, a pencil. You can photograph their finds, or allow the kids to use the camera (I adore my Olympus uTough-6000 Shockproof Waterproof Boyproof). Paste photos into the notebook and encourage your microbiologist to write a few words. If they want to. If you show them some “Real” scientific drawings, like Darwin’s diagrams of beetles, all neatly labeled, they might be inspired to do the same. The notebook should be small enough to keep in a Ziploc bag, so it stays dry. Ish. (hint: keep microscope slides in the Ziploc bag with the notebook, to keep them scratch-free)

* A penknife, if you are brave enough and the child seems responsible. Blunt the edge slightly if it’s very sharp, and teach sensible knife use. Expect minor cuts anyway. Knives can be used for dissecting, digging and prying up stones and bark.

* Free time: How about making a conscious effort to give your budding scientist “Down Time” in 2010? Time to wonder and poke about in puddles? How about not doing soccer this term? Cutting back, somehow, on lessons. We overschedule our kids, most of us. Let’s try to give ourselves and our families more suppers together, more conversations and more moments for wondering.

Good luck, Research Supervisors of 2010. I hope your budding scientists discover many things. Oh, try to get a picture of your kid’s face the first time they see a dragonfly larva at 100x magnification. It’s classic!

by Nan Sheppard

Photo graciously provided by the author, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved