Elenco SCL-175B Snap Circuits Lights Electronics Discovery Kit

I give it 5 stars with a heads-up on how to use it, realizing it's not perfect. So maybe 4 and a half..This is a wonderful product. I first tried a couple of experiments with my 6 year old son - making the flying saucer fly, and the lights change with your voice. He was fascinated and wowed and loved it and wanted to play with it over his tablet and video games, which is really saying something!!I next used it with an 8 year old who I am tutoring in general science. He also loved it instantly and wanted to play with it non-stop! And I want to play with it too!! It is a great idea, and fun to build experiments and play with.It is a really great interactive, fun, educational and learning device masquerading as a fun toy. What's better than that??My cautions- while the 8 year old did build circuits on his own, I returned the following week to find batteries reversed and circuits not working. I could not leave my 6 year old son alone with it, for fear he would damage the components.So there is a minimum age child for whom should not play with it alone. And some experiments don't work or don't work well. I tried the dripping faucet strobe and that didn't work, same with a few others. But even then, it went towards being educational as I spun it as that is what happens with science and scientists- experiments don't always work, things don't always go as planned, go on to the next experiment as a true scientist. And that seemed to inspire the 8 year old and appealed to him.As for those who say it doesn't really teach electricity or electronics, that is largely up to the parent or adult who is working with the child. I explained about current flow and electrons needing a closed circuit vs open circuit (and later about different types of energy like electrical and light energy and how they can be interconverted, as in the experiments using LEDs and phototransistors.)The 8 year old asked after a week playing with it why there were different numbers for different resistors, which proved a perfect springboard to explain current and resistance using an LED and the different resistors affecting the brightness of the LED - which I'm sure is an experiment (or a few...)Yes, many experiments are a variation on a theme.. so don't expect 175 unique experiments (or whatever they advertise) but there are enough experiments to go through. Best results will be if you take a few minutes to try experiments out before you do them with your child so as to weed out the weaker ones from the gee-whiz wow ones..Soo- if you have a curious kid and if you are prepared to do a little explaining and not just hand it over to your child and walk away, this is an amazing kit that I wish I had as a kid!!

This is an excellent educational kit that cultivate a child's natural curiosity about science. Although the minimum age stated on the box is 8 years old, I think adult supervision is recommended because you wouldn't want a younger child to do something that damages the parts. My 8.5-year-old daughter enjoys working on this and the other kits made by the manufacturers and it makes for a great bonding session between her father and her. I love watching them put circuits together and doing the other fun projects suggested in the kit.Not all the experiments work as well as expected, but that is part of the fun - a child needs to understand that in science, the process is just as important, if not more, than the results. Hypotheses can be revised and the experiments can be conducted again. The price of this kit can be considered costly, but the products are of high quality and I certainly consider it money well-spent!

My 8 year old daughter just loves it. I'm a mechanical engineer and am so happy to find a great product that promotes STEM. Some pink and purple colored products, marketed and targeted specifically to girls, completely fail in terms of quality, design, and play value. A good well designed toy will appeal to both boys and girls alike, regardless of colors used. The set comes nicely organized and packaged. Instructions are clear. You can get in and start building the circuits right away. It doesn't matter that you kid doesn't know what a 100 ohm resister or voltage are, as you can cover that later. What matters most is, after following the diagram and checking your work, the fun of seeing what you've built run. We've only done about 8 of the projects and with many more to come, Snap Circuits will provide lots of hours of fun. The only reason I gave a four star rating is that the speaker is really cheap, barely audible, and adjusting the pot. did not increase volume. Other than that I highly recommed this toy.

This is not only a lot of fun for a child who's a bit of a tech geek, but it's educational as well. Whoever invented this should be congratulated. My son started using this when he had just turned 7. He's 8-1/2 and still likes it. His sisters think it's cool too. It's a great introduction into electronics and even a bit of robotics. It's well-made, very sturdy, and has a lot of possible things to make (even though some of them are only slightly different). My son does it all on his own. There are sets with less pieces but if you're going to get one I suggest this larger one as it'll do more and you'll get more for your money. The instructions are very clear and the pieces easy to hold even for little fingers.

This was the biggest hit for my son's 6th birthday. He does need assistance with the directions, but the first night we used it he and my 7yo daughter sat for over two hours making the first 5 or so projects in the book. As we have had it a couple weeks now, my 7yo has been able to follow the instructions and the two of them can make some of the projects themselves. So much fun and they are learning. They realize if something isn't working there's a connection missing. I expect this to provide years of enjoyment and learning. This was our first Snap Circuit set, I suspect Santa will bring one or two more. Also my nephew who has autism thought it was awesome. He likes Legos and things that come with picture directions, so this will be perfect for his Christmas present.