Getting Kids Involved in Radio and Technology

As I have moved up to General class license holder in amateur radio, I have been increasingly thinking about ways to get my kids interested in radio and electronics.

Give a walkie-talkie to any nine-year old in our current times and he will not be amazed. They grew up in the world when you could video call anyone via tablet, without thinking about how it happens. Wireless communication is something they take for granted.

From my personal experience with my sons, and as an Assistant Cubmaster in our local Cub Scout pack, I have some experience of trying to figure out what gets their attention. Lectures about frequencies and the ionosphere obviously don't work here. Tools in hands will.

Taking the mystery out of technology

Most of today's electronics consist of sealed boxes. Since kids can't see what is inside, they perceive technology as a black box that they are not allowed to touch.

During one of our pack meetings, I brought a computer desktop and gave screwdrivers to the Scouts. Our mission was not to repair it. We took it apart and had Scouts pulling out memory, unclipping the CPU cooler and lifting out the CPU, tracing how the cables go. Once you open it up, it stops being a magical machine.

Along with that, we had FM radio kits for the Scouts. With a bunch of elementary school kids and a soldering iron would not go together well. Each Scout put all of the parts together, put up the antenna, hit the scan button, and tuned to a local station from speakers assembled from scratch. That was a fun activity and the kids learned things.

What else?

My 9 year old and I have done a few STEM robot kits from Amazon. I've considered getting him into software engineering via some of the approachable kid-friendly options out there, but I haven't yet. Drop a comment if you have any great ideas.