What are ways to learn/play with electricity at 6 years of age?

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fluidistic said:
and a vague notion about complex numbers
Expect a note from the school teacher some day soon about him calling numbers imaginary.
 
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Mark44 said:
Capacitors are also called condensers, but not "condensators," at least not in English. Back in the days when cars had points ignitions, a condenser was part of the ignition system, along with a coil.
Cars are - correct that - were a good source to learn about stuff - fluid dynamics ( hand out the window feeling the moving air ), sound ( honking the horn when your dad has his head under the hood ), and electricity ( when he got you back by telling you to hold this plug wire and see if it sparks ).
 
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Mark44 said:
Capacitors are also called condensers, but not "condensators

If, in UK English, one can orientate (instead of orient) oneself, I see no reason why a Leyden jar cannot condensate charge.......who invented this language!?
 
hutchphd said:
If, in UK English, one can orientate (instead of orient) oneself, I see no reason why a Leyden jar cannot condensate charge.......who invented this language!?
I'd judge orientate and condensate (as a verb) as back formations, namely words formed unnecessarily from longer words such as the nouns orientation and condensation.

Condensate, as a noun, is a word, but two online dictionary definitions that I looked at list it only as a noun, not a verb. There is no need for "orientate," since "orient" (verb) has exactly the same meaning and has the advantage of being shorter. Unfortunately, it will probably creep into the language.
 
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hutchphd said:
I see no reason why a Leyden jar cannot condensate charge.......who invented this language!?
Two guys named Bose and Einstein? :wink:
 
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Perhaps something like this. I'm not sure if this would be considered a "snap" circuit, but what is talked about in this video by Steve Mould seems like it might be useful for younger ages.
 
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You have a lot of good suggestions in the earlier posts. Do not worry about inductors, and capacitors. A six-year old is not (likely) ready for Ohm's law, impedance, phasors, and differential equations.
 
Regarding touching a 9 volt battery to the tongue. This seems harmless and I did it hundreds of times, but when I got older, I used to listen to the radio with a rechargeable 9-volt battery. The instructions on the battery warned, do not carry in your pocket where coins can short the battery and produce burns. I never got burns but they did get uncomfortably warm. I would not want that on my tongue.