science experiments/science clubs?

[boysarecool]

I have an 11 year old who is very interested in Chemistry. We spend a lot of time on it and he is quite knowledgable at this point in the subject. He is itching for some directing lab experience--I think he would love it and I believe it's the meat of science study--experiments, lab work, etc.

We've been doing weekly labs at home and have some basic chemistry equipment (thermometers, litmus paper; no bunsen burners or anything like that). But he wants more. And with someone more knowledgable than me (I'm not scientist). And preferably with other kids. Any ideas how to get this for him? I've done some googling but I'm coming up empty.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Greenmama2]

I've just learnt that some universities here have "young scientist" clubs. The closest one to us has a junior one for 2-8 years and another for 8-13. Maybe your local colleges have something similar, you could try contacting their chemistry departments directly.

[Fillyjonk]

watching thread with interest

are there other kids locally who might be interested? if there is a few of you how about hiring a teacher to run a club for a group of kids?

[onatightrope]

Especially if you have a curriculum in mind, you may be able to go to a museum or zoo or nature center that offers classes and field trips and get them to put on the class you want if you handle getting the group together for them and pay them (perhaps a slightly higher fee than their standard class fee).  You could also talk to existing co-ops to see if they'd be willing to consider adding a middle school chemistry lab class.  A word of warning about some chemistry classes you may find-- in our area the afterschool "chemistry" classes for middle school kids tend to assume that the kids know nothing about chemistry to start, and never get past the basics.  So if you find one, check the curriculum to see if its a decent fit for your son.

Another option would be to look for a mentor for him-- maybe there's a retired chemist or chemical engineer who would enjoy working with an interested kid.  For that, I'd network-- ask everyone you can think of if they know someone who might be right.