CircuitMess Wacky Robots: A Soldering Practice Kit

My son and I have already built the CircuitMess kits for the Spencer and the Ringo. And because I supported him with a good deal of the soldering in those two projects, I felt that it was time to have him practice his soldering skills. Fortunately, CircuitMess provides a complete kit collection called Wacky Robots.

The entire collection consists of five separate circuits, each with its own design resembling a robot. To appeal to a younger audience, each robot has “a story.” And inside each box, there is a collector’s card alongside some stickers. Anyway, each circuit is intended to provided a different level of difficulty to the young soldering engineer. You must follow the instructions to place all components and if done successfully, the circuit will perform some sort of function.

I truly appreciated the fact that each component used is described with simple enough language that my son was able to understand [and remember] the role of a resistor or the role of a capacitor, etc. In the case of the capacitor, he was also able to visualize it in action (it stored energy even after the circuit was switched off and through the push of a button, was able to continue lighting the LEDs).

It does not take very long to complete each circuit. Maybe 15 minutes at the most.

I did not have to intervene. I stepped aside and let my son do all of the work. I only intervened when I felt it was necessary which was rare. That is how straight forward and kid friendly these soldering kits are. By the end, I noticed that my son’s soldering skills noticeably improved.