Retro Toys: Build-It-Yourself Electronics Kits
5 Comments Published by Alex March 5th, 2007 in Gadgets, Games. Share This
Back in the days of hair combed with buttered toast, every budding young nerd would save his nickels up so that he could buy himself a Junior Electrician set the likes of this one. Do they make stuff like this for kids anymore? I have not been in a toy shop lately, but I am planning a trip or three to the local Radio Shack this week, and if they have them anywhere, that would be the place, I suspect. I’ll let you know if I see anything like this there.
Meanwhile, take a look through www.samstoybox.com, where this image was culled from; he’s a collector of all manner of toys sciencey and retro. Included in his collection are lots of Electronic Project kits, like the following:
…which looks pretty cool, until you notice how creepy and predatory Dad looks; is it just me being sick or is he totally checking Jr. out?
holy shit these things are awesome! i knew a kid when i was like 8 that had one of these things. totally groovy
These kits are all over (aimed for the most part at homeschoolers):
http://www.hometrainingtools.com/catalog/special-categories/science-kits/cat_electronics-technology-kits.html
http://www.whittierelectronics.com/Kits.htm
…this one looks neat as heck:
http://www.highlights.com/jump.jsp?itemID=1932&itemType=PRODUCT&iProductID=1932
My dad was always like: “What, do you want to be an electrician? They’re blue collar time-card-punchers, son. Just keep doing well in math and you can be an electrical engineer and design circuits instead of just build them.”
Yeah Dad, I have a white-collar job now, but now and then I wish I knew some practical electronics… I might have to pick up one of those kits.
Talk to Joel. He bought one of these modern wonder kits for his little brother, Nate, and it has totally been a hit. He has made radios, lights that work by movement, lights that work by sound, and all kinds of “hey, look at this!” stuff. Per Nate, (who is 9), the coolest thing is that it “makes so many things with so few pieces, ” and of course that it came from his cool brother. My favorite thing is that it is all neatly contained in an organized box. My dad was an early electronics wizard (made it into LIFE magazine in 1957 as one of the top ten American Electricians)who wrote technical books and built radio towers so few people in our family would degrade an electrician or his trade.
That kit I bought Nate was called “Snap Circuits.” I mentioned it to pt@make and he gave it a big thumbs up, so it can’t be too bad.