We were recently asked about science programs or activities for a pre-teen boy, and thought the answer might be of interest to others.  Many thanks to the committee member for doing such great research!

I'm dashing out a few ideas along the lines of brainstorming and leaving the follow-up / research to you.

It depends partly on what science he is interested in ... For example, the Astronomical Society of Victoria (ASV: try asv.org.au) does have a Juniors section which meets on the second Friday evening of each month, but that is not a Saturday as requested, and he may be interested in sciences other than astronomy. The ASV also has the Instrument Making section. Your son is young, but perhaps with some guidance from a handy person parent he could embark on making his own telescope? There are many other sections in the ASV which specialise to various aspects of astronomy.

Scienceworks (SW) has the Explorer Club. SW has occasional events specifically for the Explorers, and I think there is free (?) entry for them: certainly there is a members "club" which gets you free entry. If he loves SW, and you go more than about 3-4 times per year, membership is worthwhile. Also there is Museum Victoria (MV), which includes SW and the Melbourne Museum. I think membership of MV gets you free entry to both venues. 

CSIRO has the Double Helix Club with a magazine suitable for ages 7+ and another one for 10+. They also have regular activities as well as a school holiday programme you can follow up on the CSIRO website. Begin at http://www.csiro.au/products/DoubleHelixClub.html.

There is a lass running a Tuesday after school programme called "Smart Sparks" in Bentleigh and Hampton. This might be of interest if the sessions are not booked out yet. However it has obviously already run a few sessions this term. The lass (Genevieve) is an ex SW staff member.

The Monash Science Centre in Clayton may have something ... I am not familiar with this group though.

There is a "Space Education Centre" in the northern suburbs ... My details are sketchy but you might be able to find it on the 'net. It might have something too ...

NASA has a great website with a subsection "For Kids". He could get onto there and spend hundreds of hours trawling ... But it is not the same as spending time with peers in a "club".

If he is good at his science, there may be something at Mensa. Many years ago, a friend and I were involved in presenting some science sessions for a group of Mensa kids but I am not sure if this group is still operating.

Perhaps you could initiate something if you know other parents with science-oriented kids. There are lots of books (at least there used to be when I was young, and I made good use of them) in the local library with titles like "101 Science Projects for Home". You could get a few kids together to work on these sorts of projects. Maybe you could suggest this for school.

You could try looking for (adult) clubs or societies in the area of his interest. Then follow up to see if they have anything for junior members. It may well be that having AS, he can interact meaningfully with adults in his specific areas of interest, maybe with some guidance by yourself, ... But again this is not social interaction with his peer age group.

Have a look at these ideas. They might lead to others as well.

Regards,

Last updated on August 9, 2010 by Lyndel Kennedy