Customer Reviews

Electronic Playground 50-in-one

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Electronic Playground reminds me very much of the type of electronics kit I had when I was young. I bought this for my son who is 6. While the instructions and details were a little above his head the kit was not. The projects are very straight forward and the the wiring guides are as easy as "connect the dots" (really!). My only minor complaint is that the frame is a bit flimsier (paper and plastic)then I would like.

My son and I did two projects in about 2 hours (two of the smaller ones) and I was able to use the kit to make some customizations (leverage the variable resistor add a light to the electronic buzzer etc.) and show him how circuits/components can be expanded and improved.

But beyond the ease of use the instruction booklet is really quite an excellent resource on basic electronics. For an older child the kit could/should provide a pretty good grounding (pardon the pun). The combination of straight forward instructions (so you get get things to work) and well written explanations (so you know why they work) is great.

I really can't wait to do more projects with my son or ....
maybe I'll just borrow it at night and do them myself.

This IS the best educational toy I have ever seen! With all the bells and whistles you could possibly want, it's the perfect way to start your kid learning electronics. I would suggest being at least 11 years old though because the going can get a little tough for younger kids after the 10th of 50 experiments! The only problem is you might not want to put it on something unstable because it is a little delicate. Otherwise enjoy a nice gift for someone just starting electronics!

I got this for my ten year old son who was interested in electricity and electronics. We have been going thru the lessons one at a time and he has been learning a lot. The book that comes with the toy is written so that he can understand the concepts of resistance and capacitance which is as far as we have gotten so far.

The toy is lightly built and would probably be reduced to junk outside of adult supervision but it is sturdy enough for him to use when supervised.

I purchased this for my 8 yo son who had an interest in learning more about electronics. My elder 11 yo daughter was not interested in sharing her snap circuits set (she has the SC-500). We were not interested in making a large initial investment. While I really like the snap circuits and the easy directions and ease of assembling different projects / experiements; but I prefer the electronic playground for the instructional manual. The manual does a very good job of explaining what is going on, for examples, how do resisters work, what are their puposes. It questions the student to come up with real life uses of a resister such as in a light dimmer.

The playground is made of relatively inexpensive cardboard (really wish that they would have used something that felt more sturdy). However, it was very easy for my son to wire between the different pieces. He did not have any problem following the provided instructions. With the additional background that was provided, he was able to take the intended lesson and further explore on his own .... and understand what he was doing. With the Snap Circuits Pro, I did not feel like my daughter was given enough information to freely and easily experiment. Interesting that they seem to be made by the same manufacturer. My daughter has had her set for 3 years so maybe things have changed.

This was a very inexpensive way to provide a great introduction to electronics. My middle child was following along with my son and agreeing with all of the written explanations she learned at school for why the experirments worked. As an intro kit, there is certainly quite a lot that they teach the kid thru the many "experiements" and it is a good guide to test a child's interest in electronics before committing to a much more expensive set.

I'm in my fifties and asked my wife to buy this as a birthday gift for myself, because I wanted to learn about basic electronics. Both the kit itself and the instructions are well designed for first time newbies. The instruction manual mentions (but doesn't require) measurable quantities in volts, ohms and milliamps, which I was interested in verifying, so I bought a multimeter to test their predictions and they were all spot on. I'd recommend this kit for any adult who wants to learn about this stuff. You'll get hours of education for the price you pay.

We bought this for a boy (age 10 1/2). He found it interesting for a while, but grew tired of it quickly. If you have a child who is really into tinkering with electronics, etc., then this might be a good choice. Otherwise, it might become boring too quickly. Once the user gets a feel for how each of the included circuits, resistors, etc. work, then there's not much left.

As a parent, I will add that the guidebook which comes with this kit is very informative. It provides a lot of easy-to-understand introductory information on circuits and similar topics. My son seemed interested while we did a few of the lessons and projects together during some "father/son" time. I think this type of information is good for developing brains, since it gives children a brand new topic to analyze and absorb; it also gives them a basic understanding our our "electrical world".

In summary, I have mixed feelings. If you have a child who shows a liking or interest in this type of toy (assembling, testing, doing small projects, taking apart his/her current electronics toys to see how they work, etc.), then this might be a good choice. But, I cannot pound the table and say this is a "great" toy. It's a "good" toy for the right child. If you think your child might be the "right" child, then I encourage you to give it a try!

We got this for Christmas, for my 8 year old son who is a budding electrician. He loves circuits and is familiar with Elenco products. He was so excited to get this, and pretty quickly figured out how to use it. It is definitely one of the most educational toys out there for engineer-wannabes, and the projects were fun.

But I am sorry to say that it is very cheaply made. The base is a thick cardboard rather than plastic, so it easily tears. In fact, we ripped the battery flap almost immediately, even though we knew to be careful. Nothing a little strong tape couldn't fix, but considering that this toy is supposed to be tinkered with, it really needs to be made stronger to last awhile.

It's one of the best tools to teach the children te principles of electronics. I think it can be perfectly used at elementary and primary school. I've been playing with mi nephew and I think I am responsable of introducing another future electronic engineer in this world!!

I love the book that comes with it. I tried one of those mail order courses, and it nearly crushed my love of electronics. I didn't try and for a while. I decided to try it with smaller kits instead. This starts off like that course did, and I seem to remember something from it. This is far better though. I'm nervous about trying to start soldering. This kit doesn't include soldering (that I know of anyway). The durability is horrible though. It should be on a sturdier frame, and a better battery holder.

I bought this for my 7+ years Son and he loves playing with the kit. He didn't pick the theory well yet, but can setup the circuit quickly by looking at the pictures in the book.

Pros:
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1) Book is well written. They use Water flow as an analogy to current to explain resistance, capacitance, etc.
2) The springs make it very easy to connect different points.

Cons
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1) Two of the transistors didn't work out of the box.

I would recommend this to kids 9+ years, who probably can pickup the theory faster.