HACKER Q&A
📣 GRBurst

Gifts you recommend to make infants curious about cs and tech?


Hey HN,

christmas is coming and I am searching for gifts to make an infant (3 years) curious about cs or tech in general.

I think it is more important to develop a rough understanding of how things work, I do not think that a computer has to be involved.

I am looking for a similar present for a 15 year old teenager, too. Similar in terms of developing curiousity in cs. This teen is generally interested in tech and cs but I feel like she does not know how to get started (I think she's missing a cool project as a push).

Any advice? I am curios about your answers!


  👤 gus_massa Accepted Answer ✓
A few years ago we bough our daughter a set of Snap Circuit https://www.google.com/search?q=snap+circuit&tbm=isch She liked it a lot (get one with a fan). I think it's a toy for a 7-10 year old, so not in the range of age you want :( , but consider it in a few year.

Later, we bough her an Arduino set, one with instruction for small projects. I can't find the exact set, but there are a few sets of $15 in https://www.amazon.com/s?k=arduino&i=electronics We added a few additional pieces, like a 7-segment led display. This can be suitable for the 15yo.


👤 kresten
Nothing, steer them away from tech to be curious in non tech things.

Children need not the slightest encouragement to become interested in tech. The question is how do you get them to take an interest in anything else.


👤 brudgers
A Leatherman multi-tool is a good gift for a fifteen year old. Tech isn't something on a screen.

👤 goodhacker
K'nex is a great one!

👤 GrumpyNl
One word, lego.