Description

Curious young minds can learn the basics of electronics as they build more than 100 exciting projects with this kit. Work on projects that make sound effects, engineer different types of alarms, build touch circuits and play games. Contains over 30 parts in all. No soldering is required -- pieces snap together. Requires 2 "AA" batteries, not included. Box measures 10" x 15" x 2".

Customer Reviews

 Snap Circuits are the best electric kits! - Aug 23, 2010

My son got this kit at age 6 & loved it. He is very smart and interested in science, but he has a bit of trouble with manual dexterity, so the type of electrical kit that was common when I was a kid (with wires that need to be twisted or soddered together) might be frustrating for him. Snap Circuits is perfect for kids with higher IQ than dexterity. Physically, it is much, much easier to put together than LEGO. My kid can easily put it together himself, following the instructions or experimenting on his own (with an adult looking over his shoulder to make sure he remembers never to connect the two poles of the battery w/o something in between). The instructions are clear & have good diagrams (it helps to realize that the diagram is not to scale). The "100 projects" are somewhat redundant, but there's still plenty to occupy a kid who likes this kind of thing. The kit is durable, too. Despite much enthusiastic use by a kid who's inherited klutz genes from both parents, only one part ever broke (the "jumper wire" -- the only part that's not rigid plastic) and the company cheerfully replaced it at no additional charge after one phone call. I recommend Snap Circuits enthusiastically for kids who are budding engineers. Schools & home-schooling parents should also consider this as an educational aide.

 Durable learning tool - Aug 20, 2010

We bought this for my 10 year old son after reading the other reviews on the product. He played with it for hours and was totally excited over his creations. His younger sisters, 8 and 5, also had a good time playing with the kit. My kids are hard on their toys, & after months of play the pieces are still in tact. Highly recommend this for your budding scientist or for anyone looking for something for that 'difficult to buy for' little boy or girl.

 A teaching tool that's also fun! - Aug 02, 2010

Our grandson was turning 7 and we bought this for his birthday. The instructions state 8 years old and up, but my husband's specialty is electronics so he helped him with several experiments and taught him how to understand the schematics. By the third day our grandson got up in the morning and was creating new and different experiments. He became more technically advanced at troubleshooting if something did not work and became equally satisfied with conquering any problems. If you can help a child learn how to read and understand the instructions, you will be amazed at how much they will enjoy this toy. I stated it was durable because the parts felt solid, however, it has only been two weeks so I really don't know if it will last months or years. I Highly recommend this toy as a sometime alternative to video games when you are looking for indoor activities.

 Worth 23 $ - Jul 02, 2010

Every bit of [...]$ is worth with the purchase. Why ?- kids spend hours playing with the snap circuits.
It's one of the best toys we got them so far.

 Surprisingly Awesome - Jun 27, 2010

I've always been very inclined towards science and science related things. In my childhood, I used to do a lot of fun with science but didn't have much access to science toys except magnet so I used to depend upon more naturally available forms of science. When I had a kid, I always thought that I'd give him all the access and though he's just 7 but he asks a lot of science questions and definitely inclined so I got him various science related toys including some of heavenly priced one but he was never so interested in playing with those but he was interested in the end result. When I saw Snap Circuits Jr on Amazon, I immediately fell in love with this but I was apprehensive as it could be another toy in my kid's big toy library without much of use but somehow I thought that it should be my last attempt to get him involved in any tech toy and bought it. I opened the pack once it reached our home and made a sound activated musical bell and showed it to my kid. In my next project, my kid supplied me the stuff and from there on, I couldn't get my hands on it as he already made over 15 projects with that including some of the very complex ones. I'm completely fascinated with the neatly aligned board, diagrammatic representation in the manual, nice finishing of the parts and easy to learn approach. It's highly productive toy and it's so easy to get started with it that it becomes a toy more than a science toys and then you'll be flooded with questions about various terms and outputs which will definitely enhance the knowledge of your kids.
I loved it and I'm sure there's no reason why anyone will not like it. Highly recommended!!

 LOVE this!! - Jun 14, 2010

This is SO cool, my daughter is 5 and has no problem figuring this out! (with a little help from my husband). My spouse is an electrical contractor, and was so impressed with this that he's planning to buy a bunch of sets and donate them to an elementary school. It really is a great learning toy, I think this would be great for both boys & girls to learn about electricity while having lots of fun.

 Learn Science at Home Better than at School - Jun 04, 2010

My 7 year old son loves snap circuits. He finds it relatively easy to put the projects together. He has experience building legos and there are lots of comparisons between the two toys.

The guides and diagrams are clearly presented. There was minimal confusion finding parts as the color and name of the snap circuit in the guide book don't always match what is on the actual part word for word.

I don't think snap circuits, jr. is educational on its own. When asked if he learned anything about electricity, my son replied "no." The guide tells you what to do but not why and how it works. That is up to parents to explain to their children.

If you want your child to really learn about electricity and electronics there are some basics you can teach them while doing the projects together. For example, you can explain to them that in order to create electricity you need a power source and a resistor. If you have your power source connected to more than one resistor, the power will decrease. You can demonstrate this to your children. Battery power that does not go to a resistor is a short circuit. You can easily demonstrate this to your children while doing the projects. Encourage your children to swap parts and see what takes place. This should help them create a better understanding of how things work electrically.

I wrote an in-depth review of snap circuits and included a glossary of terms that I thought would be useful to parents. Also included are suggestions for how to get the most out of this educational toy.

You can read this review by visiting [...], an educational website that aims to engage young minds in active learning. On the home page you will see the snap circuits review.

Jennifer Krauss
[...].

 Great Product! - May 18, 2010

This is a great toy but doesn't allow opportunity for creativity. Step by Step instructions are provided for several experiments. Great learning tool. Probably would provide greater fascination for younger children.

 Snap Circut Great Toy - Apr 17, 2010

Ordered the Snap Circuit JR for my 10 year old Grand Daughter as a easter gift 3 weeks ago.
WOW! what a great toy. She has not stopped playing with it since she got it.
Very educational and fun. She has completed all 100 projects, plus you can purchase add ons to make larger projects.
Great gift for a boy or a girl age 7 and up. Instructions easy to follow and complete projects.

 Great Toy for children age 5+ - Apr 13, 2010

I bought this product for my nephew as Christmas gift. He loved it so much and couldn't get rid of it whole night. I strongly recommend this toy.

 Great learning toy - Apr 05, 2010

We got this for our son's 9th birthday and I have to say it was a bigger hit then I thought it would be. He actually sat down to play with this instead of his new video games. He sat with it for over 2 hours (with daddy supervising of course) and each time ran into the room to show me what he just built. My son is in 3rd grade and I can see this being a toy that we will add on to. My only wish is that we bought the bigger kit since he has already done 10 out of the 101 experiments.

 We were very impressed. - Mar 09, 2010

My seven year old used this with me at first and soon began doing it herself. She used it for her science fair project. She learned alot and impressed many people with her new understanding of circuits. My only complaint was that the wires that connect the snaps broke within the first week. Everything else seems pretty sturdy. I highly recommend it. Even my three year old can make the light turn on.

 The perfect gift for an intelligent child - Feb 23, 2010

I like the concept of an interactive toy that teaches a child the principles of electrical connectivity while they play.

In an era where the most popular toys/children's games focus on virtual scenarios this toy encourages children to physically build a multitude of electric circuits.

I bought this toy as a birthday gift for a multi-lingual 11 year old who is not a native English speaker. It was a huge success.

 Fun and educational start to electric/electronics - Feb 11, 2010

I bought the Snap Circuits Jr. SC-100 for my 7 year old grandson for Christmas. It was an instant hit. With only a little adult assistance he dove right in and started making circuits just by looking at the diagrams that are well illustrated in the accompanying instruction book. Though I wanted him to start with the easiest projects first he instead was drawn to those that created motion or sound. The product is very well made and the instructions are clear. While the product is easily mastered for his age, some adult explanations are required if the child is to gain an understanding of the electrical theory behind each experiment. Simple and fun the SC-100 should provide a stimulus for a child's further exploration of electric/electronics.

 Great Learning Gift - Feb 05, 2010

My son enjoys all the fun things you can do with this kit and it encourages learning how to modify and come up with your own creations.

 A lot of use out this toy - Feb 03, 2010

I got this for my 9 year old son and he loved it. He spends so much time on it. I also borrow it from him to use at the school with a 5th grader I mentor. He thinks it is cool.

 Snap Circuits Jr. SC-100 - Feb 01, 2010

This toy was a long shot for a girl, but it turned out to be a winner. My granddaughter is quite meticulous in the things she does which made me think that the Circuits toy would be both fun and educational. She played with the toy over Christmas and has continued to find an interest in it two months later.

 Husband asnd oldest child 8 really enjoy - Jan 30, 2010

My husband has a very technical job so he has loved the set to help explain the principals of electronics to our 8 year old daughter. They have spent hours together building the different projects. I like the fact that the kit is self contained and easy to put away.

 great toy - Jan 19, 2010

A great toy for even 5 years old. With enclosed book it's easy to understand what is needed to be done

 A great starter set - Jan 10, 2010

This is a great set to get your child started with electronics. It has some really neat experiments and my son loves how easy they are to put together.

 Great learning product - Jan 09, 2010

I recently went to an adult girl scout training weekend and this product was used. I liked it so much that when I got home, I had to get one for myself. It is a great learning and teaching tool. Love it more then Legos.

 Great learning toy - Jan 08, 2010

My six-year old son received this for Christmas. I was worried that it might be too advanced for him, but he has loved it. He can't read the instructions yet, but the pictures give pretty clear directions for completing each project. Occasionally he needs help putting some of the more complicated designs together, but he enjoys seeing the fruits of his labors. I like that he is learning while playing. I think I will get him a bigger set for his birthday this summer. This is truly a great product. Highly recommended.

 Good fun for the boys - Jan 07, 2010

Ordered this for Christmas for my 13 and 6 year old boys. We do the project together and then count to 3 before we turn the 2 projects on. The boys have really enjoyed putting the projects together and seeing the exciting results. I am pretty ignorant about circuitry so I am learning a bit too. As some have said this will not teach your child all about electricity but you can make some great analogies that they can understand (like the electricity being a river, switches being dams, resistors being like weirs, etc).

Note - I thought the light sensor was not working properly to change the alarm sounds but found I just needed it closer to bright light. Keep this in mind if you have this issue.

No problems! would highly recommend.

 Great for young kids - Jan 07, 2010

"I" just got this as a present this past Christmas. I don't think I got to look at it for more than a minute before my 6-year-old daughter decided she wanted to look at it. I knew that it would be a good learning kit, but didn't realize how much my kid would take to it. We opened the box, found ourselves 2 AA batteries, and pulled out the instruction manual. I did a quick check for any really important details I needed to know and the only really, really important part was never to create a short-circuit. I explained this to my daughter and we started working.

She took to it really quickly. In one day, we went through the first 10-15 experiments, with me explaining how the electricity flowed and what was making things tick along the way. She understood the parallel vs. series paths and could get a general idea about what would happen when we connected everything. Sometimes I'd ask what she thought would happen and she generally got it right. She has been really excited to keep on going with the experiments and can assemble the circuits easily on her own now that she understands what's going on.

The diagrams are easy to follow, though it took me a couple of diagrams to realize that the "level" at which each component should reside is indicated in the diagram. That makes assembly easier for my daughter when trying to figure out where things go. The directions are clearly indicated on both the parts and the diagrams so anything that needs to be placed a certain way such as motors or LEDs can be done easily. The parts are color-coded to an extend which makes it really easy to pick up the correct parts.

I think she was really sold on it after we did the "flying saucer" lab. She enjoyed it before that, but putting the little fan on the motor and launching it into the air amused her quite a bit. We repeated that one several times and adding the light and switch to the circuit was a lot of fun as well.

I highly recommend this product (and similar) for inquisitive young minds.

That being said, I should report that our kit has a tendency to "launch" one of the batteries due to the way the spring sits in one of the compartments. Sometimes a battery will just shoot out of the holder - not enough to hurt anything, but I've taken to holding the battery down while we turn on the circuit. On the positive side, this makes it a little easier to ensure we double-check the circuit before turning it on.

 Ideal for your budding scientist - easy to set up, lots of fun, educational - Jan 06, 2010

We picked this up for my daughter for Christmas, and she's been using it ever since. She started building the circuits described in the handy guide right away, and with every new design she was able to finish she would smile and exclaim and bring it over to myself and her mother and say "Look what I made" and then show us how it worked. It's a very nice starter set for budding young minds, that can very quickly introduce the basic concepts of how an electric circuit works: positive and negative poles on a battery, switches, resisters, capacitors, etc. Each component is built into a safe and sturdy block that snaps into a plastic grid, easy as Legos, but with clips that conduct electricity, so that you can put them together in sequence or in parallel to create a wide array of electronic "gadgets." There's a mini speaker with sound effects, there's a "fan" that doubles as a propeller that can fly up into the air. It's fun, and easy, and will entertain the curious kid for many hours on end.