SMARTLAB Toys Smart Circuits with 14 Powerful Experiments, Multicolor, Standard

Thirty years ago, I bought an allegedly-simple Snap Circuits electronics kit for my 8 year old son. It was a bit beyond him at the time, but good enough that he kept it around and recently passed it on to his own 8 year old son, who similarly kind of likes it, but still finds it complex.Wondering how things have changed in thirty years, I was eager to try this new set on my 8 year old grandson, and today was the day. As hoped, he was indeed interested, and happy to explore the kit. I'd expected him to first read the manual, but rather he just dived in, trying to build one of the middle projects (a light detector that makes a speaker crow like a rooster when exposed to light.) Once I pointed out there were step-by-step instructions to follow on the left side of the page, he was up and at it, with almost no additional help needed. Within a few minutes, he had it doing something, but had one wire connected one position off initially. Once we rechecked his work, all was well, with crowing every time we flipped on the lights in that room.This is the grandson who never ranks anything above a 3 out of 5, but he gave this kit a 4.5. From anyone else, that's a solid perfect 5 stars.One aspect of this kit is both a strength and a weakness: The kit consists mostly of ten "black box" preassembled electronic modules that merely need to be placed on modular boards and wired together with pre-terminated color-coded wires of various lengths. On the good side, this lets even an eight year old build microprocessor-controlled devices that do interesting things. On the other hand, it's a long way from understanding how such devices work at the discrete element level.The manual is about the right length and reading level, colorful and well organized, even though our grandson had no interest in reading it in the way its authors expected. I'm fairly sure he'll go back and do that later, once he's built enough of the projects to want to know how it all works under the covers.One negative is the battery case: it requires 3 AAA batteries that are not included, and that can't be inserted without a tiny Phillips screwdriver that is also not included. Worse, that screw arrived nearly stripped (see attached photo) - I got the cover off, batteries inserted, and cover back on, but there's no way my grandson could have done so even with the jeweler's screwdriver I used. Unless the makers somehow think an eight year old can be harmed by inserting 3 AAA batteries, a cover the user can open and close would have made more sense.Despite my quibbles, this is an excellent set, light years beyond the one available thirty years ago, and highly recommended.

If you've ever played with traditional electronics kits before, you could be asking yourself, "How could a kit with a speaker, LEDs, push buttons, a tilt switch, photo diode, a rotary knob, and a little green block, hold kids attention for more than a few minutes?" Well, with the addition of a little pre-programmed microcontroller (that green block), it turns those passive mundane components into 39 (+11 traditional circuits) surprisingly fun projects that are quick to connect, and will keep your kids coming back to build them all.Pluses:-Quick to connect using encapsulated modular components-39 Engaging microcontroller based projects like: LED Ping-Pong game, Door bell with real doorbell sound, Light, smart night light, Theremin musical instrument, Drum kit with realistic sounds, Quiz show game, etc.Minuses:-Connector wires can be difficult for young kids to plug into the tight leaf plugs until they become broken-in.-Pre-programmed microcontroller means it's a 'black box', which doesn't teach kids much about how microprocessors work. In fact, the parent will have a hard time explaining how connecting "D to C" creates all the cool sounds they're hearing, for instance You're really just selecting one of 39 programs that control the 6 input and 8 output lines, but the projects are really fun.-Magic Message Wand project didn't display the 'secret message'. Anybody got it to work?

Love the product, had a minor issue with one component. I contact the company and they are mailing me a replacement part right now. The instructions seem clear and easy to follow. Even with the 1 defective piece we are able to do a ton of the projects. My only complaint is that the wires seem flimsy. I foresee some of them breaking easily with repeated use in the hands of a child.

Bought this for my 13 year old grandson. He was so thrilled with it that he immediately started reading how-to and step by step started creating circuits. Within 20 minutes, he created a switch that controls lights and beeps. Then he got the idea to cross the red and blue wires somehow, to create purple light. He was so happy with it that he could hardly say goodbye to me when I left his house. The info booklet in this gift is a quick education in electronics not just a box of junk to play with. He took the time to read instructions to learn something new. Not for a kid who just wants "crash and bang race cars." It's for a kid who wants to create the electronic buttons that others just like to push. I am so glad I found this gift.

Ok, so we are giving this 5 stars even though we had an issue with the microprocessor holes lining up so we could get the wires in. When we got to the project that made a tone we couldn't get the tone to go. I looked very closely and could see that the wires were missing the socket in holes A and B. I took the screws out and put it back together and they lined up better.That said, my 11 year old daughter wasn't sure what this kit was all about but she quickly tore into it. She built project by project and had a blast. She played with it over 2 hours solid the first night and showed me each project. She learned about the components and really enjoyed it. Everything was easy enough for her to do without any assistance from me.The next morning she started right back up playing with it. She made the race game and we had a good time trying to time pressing our buttons just as the number 1 light turned on. I had a 101 project kit like this from Radio shack when I was a kid. This brought back great memories. It was really nice to see her having fun and learning about electronics.This is an excellent gift for any kid. I can't recommend it highly enough.Notes:- Requires 3 AAA batteries- Instructions are very well done- Nicely designed kit- Keeps kids interested for hours on end