Tinker Crate is a subscription box that inspires kids to learn about science, engineering, and technology, all while having lots of fun. Each month, the box explores a field of study within a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) discipline. Kids practice their problem-solving skills and learn how to engage in both structured and open-ended exploration and investigation. Most boxes walk the tinkerers through the construction of fairly complex mechanical devices.
This is a review of the new KiwiCo Electronics Pack. There are 3 crates available, Light-Up Speaker, Hand-Crank Flashlight, and Geometric Laser Projector. We’ll be reviewing all three, but this is a review of the Light-Up Speaker!
The KiwiCo Electronics Pack is more advanced than the typical Tinker Crate project and is recommended for ages 14+. I agree with this assessment – even if you have an advanced kid, they’ll need near-adult levels of dexterity to wire everything up.
Light-Up Speaker ($39.95)
Explore the science of sound by building an amplification circuit to power your own personal speaker. Customize your speaker with a glowing LED, and learn about transistors and elecromagnetism through the included instruction set. Recommended for ages 12+.
DEAL: You can also subscribe to the regular Tinker Crate and save 30% on your first month! Use this link to save 30% on your first month of Tinker Crate!
Trivia on the box!
Everything for the Light-Up speaker box!
The instructions and other project info are printed on a mini-magazine.
The mini-magazine does a great job of explaining the technology and introducing it in a way that is interesting for teens. Here’s a page that shows what’s inside the mag!
Here are the list of materials you’ll be needing to work on the project.
Another page of the magazine shows a of diagram of how and where each component will be wired up.
The activities have easy to follow illustrated instructions to start building right away! Aside from the page of how breadboard works, this mini mag also included information on how each component worked. Loved this design!
Every detail of every step was clearly laid out.
It also makes sure that what you are doing will work, and if not, you can always go back to the previous steps and check out what went wrong and fix it.
The booklet includes clear explanations on how components work.
The kit includes all the materials needed to construct your own light-up speakers. It’s a great thing that we will be working on a breadboard, it’s soldering-free and totally easier.
Making and testing circuits is a breeze with the aid of this breadboard.
I didn’t have a hard time assembling this one.
It’s looking good! We just hope it will work well. We also checked everything out after several steps just to make sure.
Here’s our finished project!
And it works! The lights looks like there’s a party!
We are very much delighted that the speaker worked totally fine, and we’ll use it at home, that’s for sure! The speaker came with an included headphone jack but I did grab a Lightning To 3.5 mm aux cable to hook it up to my newer iphone. The sound was great – and there were experiments with some of the components to perform, too! It was totally worth the premium of this item (or the whole pack, which does have a discount) to have a more solid and sturdy item, along with a more intensive build. In particular, I loved that the super-complete booklet walked us through the purpose, principles, and application for every component!
This set is a wow item for any teen ready to take Tinker Crate to the next level with a more advanced electronics project!
Are you getting the KiwiCo Electronics Pack?
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