What would do?

Assume that the child is a curious academically-inclined* 10 year old student with only a general education. You may also assume you have access to basic scientific instrumentation that one might find in a middle school/high school science lab. Give yourself a couple of hours with the kid, so that you can do more than just a setting up a quick demo and actually dig into the ideas a little bit.

(* I'm just inserting words to say that you don't need to worry about behavioral issues and that you can assume the child really wants to learn whatever you're teaching.)

I'm curious to see how people interpret the idea of "inspirational" science activities (perhaps in contrast to something like "educational" science activities, which probably feels like something completely different).

I can see several ways to go, but I don't want to bias the responses too early with my own thoughts.

A 10 y.o. boy would probably love to know how to make a cherry bomb and a 10 y.o. girl might be convinced that learning how much force a thrown lamp exerts will suit her later in life.

Active visual chemical reactions with explanations that teach some fundamentals are very useful in inspiring most young people in science. The following video is excellent, except the music.

10 best chemical reactions

Just one avenue and is used often but that does not detract from its value and inspirational power.

Find a way to work into the presentation how certain people got immensely rich by applying the scientific principles to invent useful things. I was inspired as a kid from reading a book on gambling with a chapter saying you could make a ton of easy money playing poker by just playing tighter than all the loose players at the table. Money has a large loudspeaker.

PairTheBoard

I was brewing something up on a breadboard, and my nine-year-old nephew who is usually only interested in youtubers and video games came to me and was highly interested. He asked good questions, about what the components were and what the overall thing will do in the end. He then went on and brought up robotics from the conversation. I wanted to give him more information but I have limited time, him being my nephew (and not my son). That sticks with me as a perhaps a wasted opportunity.

Discover what the child likes, connect it with science. Imagine ways to display the connection with the child that are fun and interactive.

One example I have thought of to apply with my kid is rather obvious-technology. Video games have a lot of science behind them. Build a computer together and fire up Halo, or Minecraft or Pokemon, or whatever.

Cooking is another common connection. Also get bonus inspiration about food and culture.

I wouldn't. Don't want to exert my persuasion power unnecessarily, manipulating other people's minds. But that said I could maybe offer to try to answer any question about what he/she thinks is science, in a positive way. A bit young kid though, but then we will get over with this in two minutes, not two hours.

In my experience and understanding, seeking to inspire is much different than seeking to persuade using power.

One way I know this is from the experience of being inspired and finding it very self-satisfying.

So to seek to inspire is like providing opportunity in a thoughtful manner, and, as you suggest, being a resource available to help.

A science-related gift, for example, needs no persuasion power to give the opportunity to become inspired.

Prepare and bake bread .

The Youtube video of the deep field picture taken by Hubble. Can't link at the moment as I'm at work.

Oh, wow! Holy cow!

https://www.youtube.com/user/CrazyRu...?query=science

lots of cool ideas in this link

Yeah, that one was pretty good.

Edit: and encourage the kid to do it wrong in various ways.

Edit of edit: "wrong" should be in quotes. Some ****ty bread will occur, like focaccia. Also, pasta might happen if the kid takes the experimentation far enough.

Anything to do with space/astronomy/existentialism etc should do the trick.