Elenco Sc 300 Snap Circuits

Anyone with even the slightest electronic background will appreciate the value of this toy. As a kid I remember the long frustrating hours of deciphering components from circuit diagrams and soldering them to create projects that were way too much effort. The limited success with these projects, I believe, is the reason I gave up my hobby. My 5 year old son has an interest in how things work and likes to "experiment. " We go this as a first step toward learning about electricity, and it has not disappointed. What parent today doesn't lament that they just don't make toys like they used to? Toys break prematurely, they underdeliver on their promise of fun, and they simply don't engage kids like the stuff we grew up with. Not Snap Circuits! I ordered this for my six-year-old son and we've loved every second of playing with this educational toy. What makes it stand out? 1. Exceptionally good building instruction manuals. With clear directions in full-color, the two large manuals included with the SC-300 kit are perhaps the best manuals I've seen for anything I've ever purchased. They lay out all the projects possible with the kit and also the principles that govern how the projects work. 2. Rugged construction pieces. The electronics of the kit come attached to thick slabs of plastic which have spring-loaded button-snap connectors (as found on clothing) on the backside. Each piece is clearly marked, especially so for those electronics that attach in one specific current direction. The kit should last for a long time. 3. Clever construction system. The button-snap connectors are pure genius. Most of us parents know the electronic kits with spring terminals, but the snap system here outshines the kind we grew up with. 4. Three hundred projects in the SC-300 kit. Plenty of projects to keep the kids occupied on rainy summer days. I wish I'd had a kit this nice as a kid! 5. Good mix of electronics. A nice range of resistors, capacitors, ICs, and special function electronics, including photo sensors, speakers, sound sensors, motors, microphones, etc. 6. Superb value. Rarely can you buy a children's toy and get the feeling you truly received what you paid for. This kit's worth every dime--and then some. About the only negative in this kit comes from knowing larger, even more complex Snap Circuit kits exist! You can never buy one large enough. In short, if you've got a child interested in electronics, consider this a must-have. And even if your child's not showing that interest yet, this kit might be all they need to discover their inner electrical engineer. My son and I love Snap Circuits. You will, too. My 9 year old nephew opened the box and within 5 minutes had completed 2 experiments and learned the meanings of open and closed circuits and the necessity of a complete circuit. The parts snap together. The directions are clear and easily followed. The pieces all fit. So far the favorite is the flying saucer launcher. In the past, the problem with electrical projects was the difficulty of making all the connections good at the same time. This kit eliminates that issue. My nephew was excited. The whole family was impressed. Wow! We received this set as a gift for our son. Although it seems to be well built I haven't found anything that teaches the child what it is they are working with. There are numerous components that you assemble on a plastic peg board according to a picture diagram. There is a brief explanation of what you are making but nothing describes how the components are interacting in the circuit. It's kind of like Legos where you look at the picture and your collection of components to mimic what it is you're supposed to be building. If all the componets are working (we had one that wasn't) and you assembled it correctly. . . what? You haven't really learned anything except how to follow a picture diagram. We have issues with the peg board and snap components. As you assemble, the tension can be enough to cause some of the snap-on components to pop off. Every so often you have to stop and check all of the connections, snapping them back to the board or each other. The set is

beautiful and well ordered but my son lost interest very quickly. I worked with it for a while and found it had a bad capacitor component, although it looks perfectly OK. When used in any of the circuits it causes odd results, which was frustrating for my son. The slide resistor works but is not smooth, also affecting experiments. I think any child over 12 will be bored with this model SC-300.

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