Tots to Teens: Plenty fun and learning this midterm
Engineering in the World authors Susan Hayes Culleton and Marguerite O'Sullivan
Three out of four transition-year students are worried about their future career paths. That’s according to a 2022 study which revealed that students feared their skills would eventually be made redundant by their inability to adapt to technology.
Authors Susan Hayes Culleton and Marguerite O’Sullivan were taken aback by this and decided to do something about it.
They set about writing a series of books about science, technology, engineering and maths aimed at this age group and have just published the first one,
This book is cleverly laid out, with bite-sized snippets of theory placed alongside real-life case studies and suggested hands-on activities for the students to try at home.
The aim behind it all is to help students recognise the role engineering has to play in everyday life and the many possibilities that a career in engineering has to offer.
- Engineering in the World will be distributed for free to every school in Ireland.
BUMBLEance, Ireland’s children’s ambulance service, is launching a fundraising campaign in memory of children who travelled with the service and have since passed away.
Taking place on November 11, High Spirits is a memorial hike that will offer participants an opportunity to remember these children, reflect on their lives and raise money for BUMBLEance in the process.
The team at BUMBLEance know how stressful it is for parents to transport their sick children to hospitals, treatment centres and hospices nationwide.
They want to make these trips as comfortable as can be, which is why they have adapted their ambulance to be bright and cheerful, spacious and accommodating and filled with all sorts of entertainment, from PlayStations and Netflix to boardgames and colouring books.
This year’s High Spirits hikes will involve a dawn climb of Lugnaquilla in Wicklow and a dusk climb of Mount Brandon in Kerry.
- If you would like to take part, visit bumbleance.com
Neurodiverse children, including autistic, dyspraxic, dyslexic, and ADHD young people, often find it challenging to make friends. They can struggle to fit in at school and feel excluded from their peers.
This is why All Abilities Ireland, an organisation that promotes acceptance of neurodiversity, runs a fortnightly free online social club. It takes place for an hour every second Thursday, offering a safe space for young people to meet and to learn and practice their social skills, all to build their confidence and create friendships.
Two sessions are held each fortnight. The first is from 6.30pm to 7.30pm and it’s for nine to 14-year-olds and the second is from 7.30pm to 8.30pm and it’s for 15 to 18-year-olds. The next club meets on November 09.
- More details can be found at allabilities.ie
It’s midterm and some of you may have children who are becoming feral for lack of things to do. If you live near Cork city, the library on Grand Parade might offer the entertainment they crave.
There are three free kids’ sessions being organised in the library this week. From 11am to 2pm on Wednesday, November 1, artist Fabiola Lobo is hosting an arts and crafts class for five to nine-year-olds. At 2pm on Friday, children’s book author Eve McDonnell invites children to join her in an event called Let’s Go Wonderlarking. This is described as a workshop in which children will be encouraged to seek inspiration in nature to create a map of a place that exists only in their imagination.
The final event of the week takes place at 11am on Saturday when Cork author Eibhlís Carcione will visit the library to talk about her new book Welcome to Dead Town Raven McKay. This fantasy children’s novel is all about a girl who lives in a town that’s inhabited by the living and the dead. Expect to be spooked!
- All events are free but must be booked through eventbrite.ie
