Electronic Kits are an important learning toy

If you have not considered purchasing an Electronic Kit before then you will be pleasantly surprised about what children can achieve with them, and how easy they can be to use.

Also, especially at the Curious Minds site, these toys have been devised so that they fit in with the National Curriculum.

There are different ways that the components fit together, mainly 'Snap Connectors' are used. These allow the components to 'snap' together easily, very useful for children. A comparatively new toy, Electro Mag, uses a magnetic system, although still with the idea of components clicking together easily.

The Electro Mag has in fact already received awards from the Science Museum.

Eelctro Mag, with clearly illustrated instructions, allows children from age 8 years to make trip wire alarms, a lie detector and some amazing LED light chasers. Just a caution though, some 8-year old children may not be quite ready for this toy.

One of the Electronic kits which will appeal to most children are the robot orientated kits. I am sure if you asked the question 'Would you like a robot to control?' to most youngsters between age 7 and 12, then the answer would be a resounding 'Yes'!

One of these kits is the Logiblocs Logirobot.

The Logirobot can be used in simple play or it can be used in more complex and engaging projects that help children understand the principles of control, automation and robotics. The Logirobot Kit contains over 60 parts including 10 Logibloc parts, a Docking Station, and click fit Pulleys and Fixings to enable many varied fun tasks to be carried out. The LR001 itself contains two electric motors and a clever microprocessor so that you can control it either by the Remote Infrared Control Unit or by letting it respond to onboard or remote Logibloc sensors. The kit comes with a full set of illustrated instructions for over 30 detailed projects that will keep your child occupied and learning about electronics for a very long time!

Logiblocs are colour coded transparent plastic blocks with electronics inside, each with its own function. By plugging together the modular parts children can build control systems and gadgets that are fun and sometimes even useful! It may well be that your child has already come across Logiblocs at their school.

This product is good as a starter for younger children, but possibly limited for older, or more advanced, children.



Another Robot kit is Robosapien, although this is not an Electronics Kit as such. However it does need to be programmed which is useful for young children to become familiar with the logic of programming.

Children are able to command Robosapien to perform up to 67 pre-programmed functions including pick-up, throw, high-five, whistle, dance and three different karate moves. It is possible to link many commands together and sensors in his feet mean that the robot can avoid obstacles whilst walking. Definitely a fascinating and exciting toy for youngsters - will be enjoyed by all the family.



If Robosapien doesn't appeal there is another similar robot called JoeBot.

JoeBot responds to key phrases, you can choose from wandering, patrol or talk mode, it has voice-activated program mode and sequence playback. Hilarious guard and battle routines are all part of the repartee of this amusing robot friend!

It is important for children to learn as much about Electronics as possible. These next 3 products are geared towards children at Secondary school and will undoubtedly help them with their Design & Technology, or Science work.

The Explorer 2 Electronics Kit consists of parts that are designed for quick and easy assembly, all components being connected together with press-studs on a baseboard. Very little skill is required to assemble the components so making the kit suitable for all abilities.

With the Explorer 2 kits children can build medium wave or FM radios, a burglar alarm circuit and a rain detector, amongst other things. In fact there are over 900 circuits shown in the manual provided.



Being able to set up all sorts of alarms and create games will appeal to a lot of children. The Alarm-Tech Kit is based around light and touch sensors which can trigger all sorts of surprises. Your kids can create such things as a touch sensitive mat, lie detector, security door alarm and metal detector. It might be a little frightening to go round the house, but what fun and education will go on!



For Secondary School children needing to understand more about electrical circuits there is the Secondary 2 Electronics Kit.
The kit includes 4 bulbs and bulb holders so that the effect of several lamps in series or parallel can be seen. A variable resistor and a digital multimeter are also included. Find out about series and parallel circuits, build an AM radio, use sensors to switch on lights when darkness falls and make and test fuses.