Questions questions... (cont.)

Am very behind with my emails ATM. If you're waiting for a reply, I'm not deliberately ignoring you! Just a bit disorganised.

Some questions have come up here this week, namely -

From Lyddie: Why do clapping hands make that sound?

We explored it a bit, and worked out that slapping any bit of skin makes a similar noise. The compression of air, someone suggested. The amount of space involved in a slap/clap as opposed to, say, flicking with a finger. But no explanation so far seems to quite suffice. I think we might have to look at the whole issue of sound in much more detail, with books and experiments. The challenge then for me is to stop talking about it with her after the point where she's learned enough for now.

And from me: Why do my children invariably go through a stage of deliberately killing Sims (by walling them in and depriving them of food etc.) and mutilating Barbie dolls?

The boys didn't mutilate Barbies, but they did kill Sims. And even now they play Eve Online, which involves plenty of virtual destruction.