On Fri, 6 Dec 2019 09:40:36 +0000 (UTC), Brian Reay wrote:

That kind of tinkering by children is pretty well a thing of the
past.

Toys like Mecanno, the various electronic assembly toys, books which
encouraged youngsters to experiment with basic science etc, are no
longer popular.

But still easyly available, so someone must be buying them.

The world is a very different place these days. Kids have other ways
of "building" things that have far faster, idea, build, try, fail,
new idea loops. And for things that are all but impossible to do in
the real world. Anything from spacecraft or land based vehicles to
electronic circuits into discreet component logic blocks into
computers...

What they don't teach are the physical skills, like how to use a
screwdriver, hammer, spanner, etc. How various materials behave under
various stress's (heat, cold, tension, compression, bending,
twisting...).

--
Cheers
Dave.