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Start teaching her to use tools of all kinds now. She will have her own ideas about projects and being fluent in executing on her ideas will be a general force
by yummypaint 5y ago
Start teaching her to use tools of all kinds now. She will have her own ideas about projects and being fluent in executing on her ideas will be a general force multiplier. A stack of printer paper, a ruler, a pencil, and a compass should always be available. General arts and crafts are good at that age for getting off the ground.
Go to thrift stores and get super cheap electronics for her to take apart with hand tools. Old printers, scanners, cameras are good to start. Look for local HAM radio meets, they are a good source of cheap test equipment. The people there will be good sources of information about local things of interest like robotics clubs etc. Seeing the insides of common things demystifies them and builds general physical intuition.
Talk about the concept of infinity using sensibilities from calculus and analysis. Kids have a natural interest in infinity and you can get them thinking about universally useful concepts like convergence without them knowing it. Use games to help her build physically accurate intuition for probability from the start.
Get her away from artificial environments and let her observe the natural world.
I particularly remember my friends dad who was an engineer. They had a nice shop in their basement and my friend and i hung out down there alot making nonsense. His dad was building a cnc milling machine at home around 2004 and seeing firsthand that an individual could actually build something complex like that and have it connect to a computer just like any off-the-shelf product blew my mind. It really drove home that even seemingly impenetrable things not tought in school could in fact be conquered as a hobby. Fortunately those kinds of projects are more accessible than ever these days.
- yummypaint 5y agoAlso let her have enough unstructured time to be bored. I would resist letting the boredom be sated by tv or scrolling. This is a feedback loop that should be avoided in general, but in my experience gifted kids can be very susceptible to developing bad attention habbits. You might consider not having cable tv service, or at least arranging common areas to not have the tv as the focal point of the space.