Snap Circuits PRO SC-500
by Elenco Electronics Inc
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List Price: Our Price: $44.99 You Save: $52.96 (54%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Toy See more product details |
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Toys and Games Reviews of Snap Circuits PRO SC-500
Customer Review: Great Toy! A little extra needed for science benefit.
Summary: 5 Stars
Just like Legos and other snap building toys, the Snap Circuits sets over many different components that can be arranged into many many different circuits.
The instructions have a title, brief explanation of WHAT the circut will do, and a diagram that shows the color-coded and id'd parts arranged on the grid "circuit board". My 8 year old son is able to assemble projects on his own using the directions.
As for the HOW the various components contribute to the circuit and the success of the project, parents need to take the next step and explain that the 'R4' piece is a resistor, and that the resistor is used to control or limit the electricity in a circuit. There is a page in the project books that gives general descriptions of the kinds of pieces in the kit, but a real understanding of why a resistor was used and the difference between the 'R1' and 'R4' resistors will have to come from another source - the guides just show the proper assembly, they do not talk through the reasoning for the arrangement of the pieces.
That said, I knew that was the case going in, so we are 100% satisfied with the kit. Beats the heck out of springs, wires, and clips in the sets of my youth.
Customer Review: Great Learning Tool for the Basics
Summary: 5 Stars
It is fun, educational, and a great introduction to electrical circuits for both kids and adults who have no experience. The only down side is that there aren't always good explanations regarding the mechanism by which some components operate (e.g. the whistle chip), but you can figure it out by asking around online. The product could be improved if a booklet was included that explained the inner workings of the components and maybe included some theoretical background (definition of things like resistance, electrical laws, equations, etc.) and experiments to verify these electrical laws. If you're an adult or have a bright child, it probably won't entertain you for too long (unless you want to get creative and design your own verification experiments which I just might do), but you will gain some basic knowledge and confidence that will get you started in your pursuit of electronics knowledge. I highly recommend this product, but I also recommend you get an introductory electronics book to use in conjunction with it to maximize you or your child's learning.Customer Review: Really a great idea
Summary: 5 Stars
Think of this as the Legos approach to wiring. We've bought two smaller ones for two boys here (I'm trying to draw out the girl...) and are considering a trade-up for the boy who methodically did ALL of the experiments. I grew up with the little jumper wire and spring terminal kits which do not provide anywhere near as appealing and understandable a layout and were much harder to work with and troubleshoot. Contrariwise, is hard to improvise with the fixed shape of the components and connectors, but that's not really important for this age group. Pieces do of course get lost, but how much can you ask of the little darlings (don't flush them!!!).
One quibble, more a problem with the larger kits: I think they cheat claiming the kit supports XXX [30-750] different projects. Many projects are subtle enough variations on what came before that they don't count for much.
I'm really very pleased with these kits -- high praise from toy-jaded me -- they are a genuine improvement in learning and, more importantly, *playing* with electronics.
Customer Review: Somebody at home better be a trained electrical engineer.
Summary: 4 Stars
My eight year old son loves this toy, BUT...
The book is full of errors. I'm afraid that a child would quickly become frustrated without someone around to troubleshoot the mistakes. I estimate that about 50% of the projects contain some sort of error. They're all minor problems, but the projects won't work until they are corrected.
It's really amazing how many different kinds of problems seem to crop up. Examples are: Missing parts from diagram, wrong parts specified, circuits that no longer "fit" together because mechanical design was changed, some component values seem to have been changed causing some circuits to need adjustment, some illustrations make it impossible to tell which component they are using, etc. The manufacturer just needs to sit down and build each circuit and update the book.
I should stress, once again, that my son and I love this toy. If you have the necessary skills, you should definitely get it. It's just not something you can give a kid and walk away from.
Customer Review: Buy one for each kid
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great toy! It is very educational, the direction books are easy to follow (our kids needed a 30 minute lesson before we left them on their own to make their discoveries), the snaps are a super idea (some of the other electronic sets I looked at which required twisting wires together), and it is FUN!
We gave it to our 8 year old for his birthday and he has been playing it ever since. His 10 year old brother is very jealous and wakes up early in the morning so he can play with it before his brother wakes up, however the experiments can get a bit noisy so he ends up waking all of us up with them. They both love showing off what they have made to us and their friends and they are learning about how electricity works.
Due to the nature of the toy a few of the pieces (such as light bulbs) have potential to break if not cared for properly so be sure when kids are finished playing with the set they put them away properly so they don't get stepped on.