Comments on: Retro Toys: Build-It-Yourself Electronics Kits

By: Joel

Joel — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 17:00:31 +0000

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.

By: Fanclub

Fanclub — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 00:16:37 +0000

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.

By: middy

middy — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 19:40:06 +0000

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.

By: randy

randy — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 18:02:10 +0000

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

By: thaddeus

thaddeus — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 17:25:03 +0000

holy shit these things are awesome! i knew a kid when i was like 8 that had one of these things. totally groovy