Science Sunday: Snap Circuits Jr and Thomas Edison

Way back when we were studying Thomas Edison I got Snap Circuits Jr. to do with the whole group, but one of the other moms convinced me not to because of the large numbers of kids involved at the time.  So, I’ve been saving it for the perfect “Mom, I’m bored….” activity.  Aside from my standard response of “Go clean _________”, that answer they don’t like so much.

 

 

Well, earlier this week Jeff took Batman to work with him, leaving me with Superman and Princess.  I was at a bit of a loss what to do with 2 of the 3 kids, I knew if I did any art projects Batman would be sad he missed it, and I didn’t want to do any lesson from our curriculum because then Batman would be missing out on the work……  You get the idea.

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I got the kit out and we got to work trying out different experiments with it.  I have to say I highly recommend this as a way to introduce early engineering and electricity, you can’t really hurt yourself or seriously cause any problems because of the design.

 

The projects are straight forward (or at least the first few), Superman and Princess were able to do them with some help, and after completing the first project once were able to repeat it without much help from me.

 

I foresee this being something we fiddle around with from time to time as we delve into it more.  This will also be great for answering their many questions about electricity and such stuff…….

 

Cool posts linked up last week:

Cloud in a bottle from All Things Beautiful.

Solids and Liquids using melted crayons from Learning in Mayapur.

Pine Cone Hygometer from Tiger Chronicles.

 

How about you guys?  This is probably the most open-ended science kit I’ve ever seen.  It has about 100 projects you can do in this one kit, and there is a lot of opportunity for hands on learning.  Have you found any kits like this one?  There’s several others in the series that I can see eventually buying, in particular the one for making cars.


Comments

15 responses to “Science Sunday: Snap Circuits Jr and Thomas Edison”

  1. We love Snap Circuits, too!

  2. Discovering Montessori Avatar
    Discovering Montessori

    I just picked one up Friday. I am glad to hear it was a hit with your kids. Thank you for sharing.

  3. An Almost Unschooling Mom Avatar
    An Almost Unschooling Mom

    Isn't that melted crayon blob just the coolest!?!

  4. I'm glad your kids like these! I just ordered a set (half price on Amazon!!!) to give to Mike for Christmas, for him to play with with the kids! It looks pretty awesome, so I'll probably play with it too =)

  5. Tiger's Mum Avatar
    Tiger’s Mum

    We were given a set by a relative a while ago, but our set is not as sturdy as the one you have (probably means it's meant for older children with better fine motor skills and more patience!) I'm glad it's a hit with your children. The kit is such a great learning tool.

    Thanks for highlighting my post from last week!

  6. This sounds like a great kit.

  7. C got it for his birthday, but we haven't tried it yet. Must do that soon!

  8. Pretty cool fun! I recently purchased a Blinky Bugs Kit- I am hoping working with it goes well with our electricity study…

  9. So tempting, but I am holding out until at least next year. I hear very good reviews about this set though!

  10. It's so funny…I was just talking with my husband about a set of Snap Circuits that I found on sale (I have been thinking about buying them), just before I read your post. Sounds like they are worth getting!

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  12. Ooops *blush* sorry! I'm new to this linky blog thingy. I didn't mean to post so many links. I'd delete some if i knew how.

    My hubby is off to China soon, I wonder if the Snap Circuit is available there??? R would love it! I'll have to do some research to find out where it's available from.

  13. Mummy...Mummy.....MUM!! Avatar
    Mummy…Mummy…..MUM!!

    snap circuits looks great! I wonder if you can get it in the UK?

  14. What's your link for Pinterest? Would love to follow your boards =)

  15. Rachel- don't worry I can go back and delete it for you.

    Mummy……MUM!- I'm betting you can get them, now what the shipping costs or other things are that I have no idea!

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