Customer Reviews

Snap Circuits Jr. SC-100

5 star:		(346)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The best point in favour of this product is that it is lego style toy that does not intimidate a child with intricate electronic components. My 6-1/2 year old daughter started playing with it and was very excited to have completed her first project to light a bulb with a switch. Theories of electricity followed naturally when initially the bulb did not lightup. I showed her the shiny metal strip beneath the connectors and explained conductivity a little.

Another major advantage is that there are mostly no wires, and the components are hidden from view, giving it a very un-complicated look that a child can easily comprehend. This difference makes possible for my daughter to actually play with it.

The only problem seems to be the quality of plastic used. It looks as if it might break if a component was bent while snapping in. Still, I highly recommend this product.

Length:: 1:15 Mins

This is the ideal kit to get your child on the road to understanding electricity. Everything just snaps together like building blocks, and there's no need for screwdrivers, soldering irons, electrical tape or testers.

The instruction manual is easy to read, and includes diagrams for 101 projects. With a little help for the first few, a child can easily work their way through the book with minimal adult supervision.

The video shows a few of the projects - a switch circuit with light bulb, running a DC motor and fan, a Space War alarm combo, and a flying saucer. There's also a clip of a lamp and fan in series, showing that the fan takes a while to turn at full speed because of inertia.

There are also games, sirens, projects activated by clapping or light, and projects that introduce digital circuits. There are three kits that are more advanced, but you can also get upgrade kits to take each to the next level.

If you're looking for an educational toy that your child will really enjoy, I recommend you put this one on your list.



Amanda Richards, December 30, 2007

My son has a thousand motors working without this kit, I rarely can slow him down. I bought this and he loves it! He will sit and play with it. This kit stimulates his brain enough that he doesn't have to run around, tearing down the house, chipping the walls, screaching, teasing and peeling paint. Anyone with ADHD kids out there know what I mean? Gotta have something like this, for kids like these!!!

It doesn't contain a huge amount of pieces like a box of blocks and after a few tries with adult help, I would say an eight year old can do this alone. It isn't dangerous. There are a couple of parts that can be torn easily by rough kids but a lot of stuff can still be made any way.

Make lazer sounds, sirens, make songs come out, or fans, a ufo spin off toy (launches in the air),several types of games to play, a doorbell, a couple of computer part thingies, other light blinkie things, even stuff your kid can only dream up. Has lots of noisy sounds that will drive you nuts so send the kid somewhere else. LOL.

Think of this as the Legos approach to wiring. We've bought two for two boys here (I'm trying to draw out the girl...) and are considering a trade-up for the boy who methodically did ALL of the experiments. I grew up with the little jumper wire and spring terminal kits which do not provide anywhere near as appealing and understandable a layout and were much harder to work with and troubleshoot. Contrariwise, is hard to improvise with the fixed shape of the components and connectors, but that's not really important for this age group. Pieces do of course get lost, but how much can you ask of the little darlings (don't flush them!!!).

One quibble, more a problem with the next larger kit: I think they cheat claiming the kit supports XXX [30-750] different projects. Many projects are subtle enough variations on what came before that they don't count for much.

I'm really very pleased with these kits -- high praise from toy-jaded me -- they are a genuine improvement in learning and, more importantly, *playing* with electronics.

This is a wonderful "toy"! My 10 year-old loves it! Without going through all of the experiments, he has already started altering the projects for different results. There are explanations with almost all of the projects explaining WHY it works the way it does. I doubt my son is reading all of them--but he is obviously reading some of the explanations because he is explaining to me what is happening!

Basically, there are all these "circuits" and they snap together easily, and remove as easily. The snap is great in that they stay together quite well so that people using it won't get frustrated if it were to fall apart. The person using the item almost doesn't need to read, because if they just follow the picture, they can "do" it.

The box says for ages 8-108--and I have to admit that although I have no real interest in electronics, I have enjoyed some of the projects my son has made. One WARNING: the speaker is quite loud--exactly what the littlest kids in our house love!

As to durability, sometimes the speaker doesn't work very well, or maybe it is one of the circuits. But it an otherwise wonderful product--and I will need to eventually purchase the Regular version Snap Circuits (as opposed to Snap Circuits Jr. and Snap Circuits Pro), since the regular version is listed as for ages 10 and up, so I am hoping that it is a bit more challenging.

Finally, a homeschool science my children can't put down!

We received this item as a gift for my oldest son, age 6 at the time. He and my two other sons, 5 & 3 sit playing with this for hours on end. All of my oldest son's friends love to play with it and they all try to build the coolest sirens and such they can find in the instruction book. It's a little tough on my 3 year old, he needs lots of help to follow the diagrams but he's happy enough to snap the last piece and flip the switch (or whatever, to turn it on). I would have liked to see a sturdier box for the set but other than that, I think this is a wonderful toy and well worth the price.

I bought this for my 9-year old grandson's birthday. He loved it and in fact, did not play with his Game Cube or computer for days on end because he wanted to play with this. I highly recommend!

I remember when I was a kid, building radio kits and playing with electronic gadgets of all kinds. I definitely learned a lot and had lots of fun (I ended up studying electronic engineering in university). However, while fun, I had lots of frustrating experiences with those kits. Fiddly wires, annoying connections that were hard to make, etc.

I saw this product on Amazon here, read some reviews and decided to try it out. I was a little wary since I recently got some other science toys for my 7.5 yr old son and he wasn't particularly enamored with them. Not that they were bad; just that they were hard to appreciate for him. Directions were hard to follow for his age, etc.

This snap circuits kit is quite the opposite. Simply amazing. I introduced it as "lego electronics". And it really is. It's really simple to build all the circuits. After a few false starts, my son was building the circuits almost completely by himself. The pieces are simple to snap together. So easy compared to what I remembered.

What impressed me the most is the manual. Few toys devote so much effort to the manual. Full color, easy to understand diagrams, and straightforward text.

The only thing they could do more of is explain the electricity principles a bit more. However, for mid-twenty-dollars, I can't really complain. And I believe they do have a teachers-companion guide or something like that which presumably has the extra educational material in it.

I thought some of the experiments could be grouped differently to make a more logical flow. However, I think they put some thought into interleaving the "boring-but-important" projects with more fun noise-making-and-light-flashing ones to keep the kids interested.

Overall, an amazing job. I can't imagine how anyone could better this. Fantastic stuff. The guys who came up with this deserve a medal.

My son is 10 and has severe ADHD. Most things we get him capture his attention for only a few days then they end up in his closet - the 'black hole' of the toy world. He loves this circuit board and can't wait to "play" with it when he gets home from school. The booklet diagrams are a bit confusing at first, but once you get the basic idea of how electricity flows, they make more sense. The great thing about this kit though, is that you are not limited to only the circuits shown in the diagram. You can also create your own "inventions" as you become more familiar with how electricity follows a circuit. My husband and I also like to play with the circuits as well. It is a great interactive, hands-on activity that we can share with him and it is a wonderful alternative to video games. This board would be equally challenging to older kids too as well as a great way to learn about electronics engineering.

I was looking for something new for my son to build with, as he is an avid Lego fan and loves to design and build things. When I saw this, it looked perfect for his birthday, and it was! He loves it! It's brand new, so he's only tried a couple of the "experiments" (the whirring fan and the musical song, which, appropiately enough, played "Happy Birthday"!) but it has been very fun and a learning experience for him