Playz Circuit Board for Kids, Educational Science Kits for Kids Age 8-12

My 8 year old son chose this from a long list of possible options for a gift. He thought it sounded fun and cool to play with electricity (safely) and make things happen because of him connecting a bunch of stuff together. He was beyond excited when we received the product and could not wait to open it. The circuitry set comes with the base already put together. The outlying parts such as the bell, spinning light, top spinner, etc. need to be assembled before use. All are relatively simple to assemble and should not take more than 30 minutes before you are ready to begin experimenting. The base has a storage compartment on each side where you can store the wires, magnet, and other accessories. The instruction manual that comes with the set is full of educational insight and 329 experiments. It begins by giving a basic lesson on electricity and circuitry, including how to read a circuit diagram. The next couple of pages lay out the parts list and terminology used in the manual as well as a Table of Contents for all 329 experiments so you can easily find which one you want to try. Every experiment gives you a title, explanation of what the experiment will do and how it will do it, a circuit diagram, and an easy-to-follow numbering sequence for the wiring if you are struggling to read a circuit diagram. They have made it extremely easy to wire up everything, so anyone at any age could easily connect the wires to the base. They use a coiled metal spring for every terminal, so you simply push the spring to the side and slide a wire in. No difficult latching, screws, soldering, etc. When done, you can easily just pull the wire out of the spring without needing to push the spring to the side again. The best part of all of this --- You CANNOT be electrocuted by this circuitry set as sold by the company! The system works on 2 or 4 AA batteries, so it does not have the ability to provide enough voltage or current to harm you. This gives you the perfect opportunity to teach electrical safety without the possibility of someone being hurt. (Note that any modification done to the set outside of what is specifically listed in the manual is not recommended and could result in potential harm) My 8 year old son has already spent hours playing and experimenting. He has had no issues wiring up the most complicated experiments in the manual because they make it so easy to understand, follow, and wire. He's even helped my 4 year old son wire up experiments with ease. Highly recommended educational product for all ages, even adults!!!

Teaching my daughter the basics of circuitry and how electronics work in a practical and fun way is amazing. She and I both love it. And there’s SO MANY options.

Got this for my son for Christmas. He loves it, but it was missing 2 springs. Had to contact support and they will be sending me the replacements!

What I like The projects actually work. Spin the propeller, the lights come on, the buzzer sounds. The kit connects the project on the page to something visible in the room. That is the win. The kit covers several themes at once. Electricity, voltage, current, resistance, and magnetic science are all in the project list. The kids are not just building one kind of circuit over and over. It has a range across elementary ages. My kids have all used it. Some on their own, some with help. It works for the age range the listing targets. The cycle of use is healthy. Build for a couple hours, put it away for a month or two, come back and build more. It does not get abandoned after a single use. The projects are physically varied. A spinning wing that flies is not the same as a buzzer that sounds is not the same as a row of LEDs that light up. My kids pick different projects to build rather than the same one twice. The printed guide is enough to get started. The kids do not need me to invent projects for them. The booklet has step-by-step diagrams and the kids can build from it. It is science they can see, not science they have to imagine. My kids are not learning the difference between voltage and current in any deep sense, but they are learning that closing a circuit makes something happen. That is real, even if it is shallow. What annoys me It does not hold their interest for very long. A good couple hours, then it goes back in the closet for a month or two. That is the cycle. If you want a toy your kid will be sitting with every night, this is not it. The depth of the science is shallow. My kids are having fun. They are not really learning much about voltage versus current versus resistance in a way that will stick. They can build a circuit; they could not explain why the circuit works. 4 AA batteries is a lot. The kit eats batteries. If you do not use rechargeables, that adds up over the months of ownership. The components are basic. The motor, the LEDs, the buzzer, the switches are all simple output devices. There is no microcontroller, no programming, no real “build your own” beyond the projects in the booklet. Once the kids run out of projects they want to try, the kit is done. The booklet is a fixed list. There is no web resource, no expansion packs in the box, no community of additional projects you can download. Once you have built the circuits in the booklet, you are done unless you improvise. The kit does not progress with the kid. My older kid ran out of interest faster than the younger one because the projects do not get harder the way a coding kit or a robotics kit does. Once the physical circuit clicks, the next one is more of the same kind of click. Storage is on you. The kit comes in a flimsy tray that does not hold up to being put away in a closet and pulled out a few months later. I threw ours in a shoebox with a lid and that has worked fine. Who it is for, and who should skip it If you have elementary-age kids, want a science kit, and you are fine with a toy that gets used in cycles rather than continuously, this kit is a good fit. It is best for families with younger kids who want to learn about science and electricity and other fun stuff. The kids will have fun. They will come back to it. If you want a STEM toy that grows with the kid, that the kid can build with for months and months without running out of projects, or that teaches real depth in any of those topics, this is not the kit. Snap Circuits, LEGO robotics, a microcontroller-based kit, or a programming kit that starts with blocks and ends in real code are better fits for that kid. If your kid is past elementary or is in middle school and wants real STEM progression, this kit will not hold them. Skip it if you do not already use rechargeable AAs and do not want the battery cost on top of the kit cost. Skip it if you want one STEM toy that lasts a year. Skip it if you want depth on the science side. Keep it if you want a hands-on electricity kit the kids will return to a few times before they outgrow it. Verdict A STEM electricity kit my elementary-age kids actually pick back up. The projects work, the cycle of use is healthy, and the science is shallow but real. The kids have fun. They learn a little. They do not stay with it for long stretches. That is the kit. Grade: B—for elementary-age families who want a STEM toy the kids keep returning to. Buy it with caveats. Buy the linked listing if your family matches mine.

The kit is well thought out with a progression of basic to more complex electrical and mechanical principles. It is fairly solidly constructed to last and the electronic components have some self protecting features built in. Depending on the age of the child there is some initial assembly that may require an adult. For what's included I think it is good value. The work book is well written and the projects are strait forward to wire and set up but a bit scant on explanation of the principles it is trying to show. I understand keeping it quick and fun without getting bogged down in details but maybe some supplemental material would make it more educational.

amazing toy my son plays with it for hours

We got this kit for our daughters for Christmas hoping they'd learn a little about electrical engineering. They are 7 and 10 years old. We got them an Arduino kit(not from this company) earlier in the year and by comparison, I think this was more appropriate for their age. While the Arduino kit came with lots of components and required one to build everything piece by piece, this kit comes with only a minimal amount of set up and then it is simply connecting individual wires from one spring post to another so it's very easy to use. The setup up is more about putting some plastic parts together and applying stickers than about the actual electrical circuit board. The directions it comes with are a little overwhelming for children. There's a two-page spread, in the beginning, to show the setup up but then the rest of the book is made up of minimalist illustrations (schematics) that can be confusing at first. But as long as you read from the beginning it all makes perfect sense. The schematics show you step by step which connections to make and allow you to perform very basic functions all the way up to wiring an FM radio with controls. We just opened this up yesterday so we have not had the chance to go through all of it. That will take a while as there are over 328 schematics you can complete. The book is set up starting you with a basic connection and if you complete them in order it will slowly work one through circuits, resistors, diodes, capacitors, etc. The book does not go into much detail about the science behind all the parts which I think is an area that could be improved upon. Overall it's an excellent kit to introduce young kids to electrical engineering.

It’s fun, and my son is not confused about the wiring. I think it’s fine for pre teens or any younger kids that understand how a battery works! It will last for at least a few months.

!!Muy buen juego didáctico!!! Con mucho que aprender y jugar con la electrónica, para niños y adolescentes. Nota: El instructivo solo está en inglés.

Muy chafa el tablero de cartón donde vienen montados los componente, falta una mayor descripción de cada circuito para que cumpla con cometido educativo