Builder Boy and Mama's Snap Circuit Adventure, Part 1

Okay, I couldn't wait any longer. I got Builder Boy Snap Circuits for his Christmas present. For those who've never heard of them they're like electronic Legos. You "snap" the pieces together and they create circuits that you can use to build electronic projects (one of them turns an alarm on if it detects water!)

Never mind that Builder Boy has never heard of circuits and doesn't really think that much about electricity (that I know of.) Never mind that this toy is labeled at 8+. This is what I got and this is what we're going to do together.

But last night as Daddy and I were...um..."testing" it out to make sure it all works I realized that this isn't going to mean much to Builder Boy without some background information.

So I looked up some information online (and I'll go to the library tonight) and we're going to spend this next week learning about electricity at a 1st grade level so that when we do these projects it will actually mean something.  An eHow.com articles gave this recommendation on teaching electricity to young kids:

• "Use analogies that the child will understand. For example, explain that electricity is like a train on a train track, and that it requires the circuit to be continuous for the train to go all the way around. If the track/circuit is broken at any point, the train can't continue, and the circuit won't work. Using analogies will help children understand the basics of electricity."

The train analogy is perfect for a boy who's been playing with train tracks since he was two years old. I found a lot of really cool online resources and I will be sharing those on here as we use them.

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I don't get paid for reviewing this product or any of the other electricity resources. All opinions are my own.

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