DIY dunces?

Just the same stuff, the basics haven't changed.

They are and are taught simple series/parallel light bulbs at primary school. I certainly wasn't, I don't think I was taught anything that could be even loosely described as "electronics" at school.

Getting given the box of interesting bits is the problem but once you have them books or the web will give the information required to play with the bits and experiment.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice
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I didn't have any electrical books then, certainly no web. I don't even recall my dad needing to help me out playing with the bits -- I just got on with it myself. I had already been playing with components in my dad's boxes of bits, mostly from valve equipment. There were lots of 6V bulbs (used to light up tuning scales and the like in valve radios) and I had tried running them in series with all the loose components, occasionally finding one which dimmed the bulb, and the potentiometers (again, with little success as they were probably mostly 100k and upwards). I think my early attraction may have been to the pretty coloured components, all the resistors used in valve kit were much bigger than today's components, with prominent colour codings, and probably looked like sweets (although I never tried eating them).

I've got a 2½ year old nephew, who is fascinated by my DIY, fixing up lights, dismantling/reassembling torches etc, and when he's old enough, I'll probably do something similar for him. For his 2nd birthday, I bought him an LED torch, one of the ones you shake to charge up (partly chosen as it didn't disassemble into small pieces), and that generated more interest than many of the toys.

When I was a bit older, probably around 8, my dad bought the components for a couple of Practical Electronics projects for me, which I built. At age 10, I got to choose a monthly magazine, which at that time was usually Everyday Electronics (which I think had just started up then), and gradually changed over to Practical Electronics and ETI as I got older. I still have all those stacked up (and lots of Elektors).

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Some of those LED torches can have very concentrated outputs - gently sanding the front lens to diffuse the light a bit might be advisable?

Owain

Reply to
Owain

I suppose these days most of the interesting stuff has to be soldered. It's a shame there aren't collections of plug-in components that the younger ones could mess around with, like an electronic Meccano

Reply to
stuart noble

You mean like:

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Reply to
Dave Liquorice

My 7 year old son has a set of that stuff and loves playing around with it. It does seem expensive but he has got a lot of value out of it.

Cheers

Mark

Reply to
Mark Spice

and 4 - I guess we got the first one when the eldest was about 3)

It does have things like diodes, LEDs, resistors,light sensors etc. as well as units that do things like make sounds. Though probably Stuart means something more where there are more electronic-y bits to make more complex electronic circuits.

They do enjoy the kits though, it comes with a good booklet of circuit diagrams, which match the pieces in the kit, so making it easy to translate, so she was able to follow the diagrams from a fairly young age (though some bits require reading)

They also of course love just playing with all the bits and making up their own circuits etc. Though really for that sort of thing it doesn't come with as many simple things like bulbs (being very much aimed at what the national curriculum says for the relevant age group)

We also have a box of bulbs, wires, bizzers, croc clips etc. which they love to play and experiment with.

Though the most probably the most exciting thing they did recently was dissect hearts :-) (We home educate, so have plenty of time to do such fun things :-) )

Reply to
chris French

Thanks your and Mr French's feedback, I think the lad (8) has just got another Christmas present. B-)

Either this snap stuff, which does strike me as easily expandable but expensive or one of the other type with springs and lengths of real wire to join things together. I think a trip to Maplin is in order...

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Yup, got a set of that - wery good.

Waitrose have some of those (first time I have seen them for years) - only about £15 as well.

Reply to
John Rumm

It is pretty expensive, but it's well made, and of good quality, all the pieces are sturdy, (they have yet to break anything), the diagrams are clear.

We've got a couple of old one of those (look like they probably date from the 1970's or something), I think they prefer the other a sort, the spring ones seem more of a fiddle to them

We have the Cambridge Brainbox version

We started with the Primary Plus kit, and this year picked up a Secondary one from Ebay pretty cheaply (a good source for expansion bits)

For an 8 yo I'd look to getting a Secondary kit if I was buying one, it has some extra bits, more bulbs, a multimeter and stuff.

I also note they have an explorer kit which seems to be more electronics focused.

They are available from various places (good old Google), though getting a bit late maybe for online.

As an aside, I've heard good things about this:

The Electronics Wizard Apprentice.

Basically it a postal electronics course where they send out kits every month. Aimed at 10 yo plus.

Reply to
chris French

the three aa cell led maglite in screwfix is very bright and focuses well.

Reply to
dennis

Can you easily replace, say, the transistor on it's plastic piece after it's been connected the wrong way around?

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Does look interesting, but a bit expensive for the younger ones. If it's a base they can build on later using cheaper components, I guess you simply regard it as an investment rather than a present. So, are there generic bits and pieces you could add, or would they have to be specifically for that board? Getting tied into overpriced add-ons would kind of put me off and, in a way, would be getting away from your original idea of building stuff from odds and ends.

Reply to
stuart noble

No, actually I meant for younger kids. This sounds ideal. My grand daughter (6) thinks mostly about shoes, but I have high hopes for the lad (3) who instinctively gravitates to the toolbox.

Reply to
stuart noble

Was the biology lesson followed by home economics by any chance?

Owain

Reply to
Owain

Or a nice little breadboard and some 'normal' components...ISTR I had one at about that age. Breadboard has the advantage that it's expandable at low cost (components and even another board).

Reply to
Bob Eager

I am not sure the one pictured matches the price - I think I bought either the middle or the big set and paid about £40 for it (well £30 in reality since I have mate who works for them and can get a staff discount ;-)

You can't easily add stuff to it, but the larger sets have a fair selection of components. A prototype board, ordinary components, and some small crock clip leads however would allow you to add more capability later if you want.

The main attraction of the set is that you can build stuff without needing to worry about getting reliable connections, and the parts are designed to be reused without the lead ends getting all bent out of shape. I think its probably only a starter - but it may encourage them to get into "proper" electronics later.

Reply to
John Rumm

:-)

I did suggest it, but we two of the families are vegetarians and the meat eating family didn't fancy the idea of heart

Reply to
chris French

I saw the diagram as:- the earth wire had not yet been "pushed home" (hence the arrow of what the wire was to do before the screw "clamp" was done up).

Reply to
soup

Agreed the picture does not do either the small or large Snap Electronic= s sets justice. I got to Hull early on saturday morning so dropped into th= e Maplin there. Looked at both plumped for Snap Electronic Extreme. The springy thing didn't really have much in the way of bits by comparison, =

the springs are a fiddle to use and it looked made down to a price. The =

Snap Electronics board is about the size of A4 sheet, a good range of components and in theory 750 experiments but I expect marketing has got = at that figure, changing one resistor is another "experiment"...

Well you could just buy another set or smaller one and adjust the component values if needed.

True but to start I think having a set of instructions for experiments o= r projects that are very likely to work is essential to provide that positive feedback. An electronics breadboard and load of bits isn't much= use if you don't know what a resistor is...

It will be interesting to see what happens on Christmas Day, will the La= d be into it, will No.1 Daughter dive in and take over, will Dad?

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

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