I know the best educational toys stimulate open-ended play. Things like blocks, balls, and art supplies. Okay, and cardboard boxes. But I’m a sucker for gadgets that stimulate interest in technical areas such as electronics. That’s why I was happy to discover Elenco Snap Circuits. These kits are recommended for ages eight to 15 (and have small parts making them unsafe for children under three) but most five-year-olds will enjoy using them with some parental assistance.
Kids can’t help but learn as they have fun assembling, creating variations, and playing with kits such as the Snap Circuits Flying Saucer
We LOVE Snap Circuits. Highly recommend. They’re as easy to use as Legos and a great teaching tool. I’d never seen the battery eliminator though – thanks for including that!
I’m with Allyson. We love the Snap Circuits as well. It’s led our young daughter (8 yo) to say she’d like to be a robotics engineer when she grows up! Right now, DH is moving them along to soldering electronics and they seem to be liking that as well. But it all started with Snap Circuits.
Next step? Two of my kids adored Kenn Amdahl’s still-not-too-out-of-date book “There Are No Electrons: Electronics for Earthlings.” It’s probably best for ages 11 and up. His presentation gave them an instant comfort with bigger concepts and self-driven exploration into electronics.
I just discovered that a person can google blogs and so stumbled across this. Wanted to say thank you for the kind words. Yes, the book is still out there and still paying my grocery bill, so anytime it’s mentioned I feel good in a whole bunch of ways.
You are obviously a woman of exquisite taste and refined sensibilites. Thank you.
kenn
Kenn, my kids will be so jealous I’ve made contact with the man and the legend.
I want you to know that “There Are No Electrons: Electronics for Earthlings” started one of my teens on a continuing fascination with electronics which, combined with his passion for music and the science of acoustics, led him to develop a component for amplifiers that he sells online to audiophiles. It led another of my teens to choose engineering as a career.
I also want you to know that I enthusiastically recommend that book plus “Algebra Unplugged,” “Calculus for Cats,” and “Joy Writing” in my book “Free Range Learning.” CLEARLY I have exquisite taste and refined sensibilities. But no tech skills, since I only appear as a ghostly image appear when I reply…