What age to start Rocketry?
All kids are different. So your child's abilities and confidence level must be taken in to account.
Be Ready to Be Active!
Parents have to able to direct children at launch time. Parents must be in control and active during this activity. This is no place for distractions. So no cell phones, no paperbacks, and for the kids, no portable video games.
Rules of thumb: By age group. (based on what I do)
1st - 4th grades. 6 to 9 years of age.
This will be more of a demonstration of rocketry. This age group is a bit young to actively participate in rocketry. Adults would have to guide each step in the process. But it is a great opportunity to get out there and demonstrate Scientific concepts at work in the real world.
5th - 6th grades. 10-11 years age.
Children are old enough to be building and launching rockets, with adult supervision. You need to gauge if your kids are ready for this activity.
Skills needed:
-Following step by step instructions. Plastic models ( cars,aircraft,boats, can be a great start)
-Knot tying (Sounds simple. Amazing how many public school kids can not do this)
-Measuring, cutting to length.
-Gluing parts. And the patience to let things set for a while until dry. Then come back to the next step. This is a super valuable, yet some times hard to teach concept.
- SAFETY . The ability to pay attention and follow SAFE Procedures! This is critical at launch time.
8th grade and up. 12 years plus.
- Now kids are ready to dig in. Learn rocketry. Move on to more advanced projects. At this age many kids will learn and research Rocketry on their own, often surpassing the knowledge of adult mentors. So it's up to you to try and keep up!
But it's o.k. this is fun stuff!
Things to work up to:
- On board Electronics.
- Scientific payloads.
- Mid power; then High power rocketry. (if your area and funds are suitable)
- TARC / SLI TARC NASA / SLI
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Up next..... how to get started.
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