Pete's Expert Summary
So, my human seems to think I care about the "educational" pursuits of the loud, miniature human who shares my staff. They have procured this box of colored plastic and wires, a "Snap Circuits" kit, with the grand promise of building over 300 different noisy contraptions. I must admit, the sheer quantity of small, lightweight, eminently battable pieces is intriguing. An "AM radio" or a "burglar alarm" sounds dreadfully dull, but perhaps one of these creations could be repurposed to, say, announce the precise moment a sunbeam hits the Persian rug, or to emit a frequency that drives the dog next door into a state of existential crisis. Ultimately, however, it appears to be a glorified set of building blocks designed to keep the small human busy, a noble but ultimately futile endeavor that will likely just result in more tiny things for me to find under the sofa.
Key Features
- SO MANY TOYS IN A SNAP: Make dozens of cool electronic gadgets - all from one box! A safe and fun way to introduce children ages 8+ to the basics of electrical engineering! Build exciting projects and toys using the included colorful instruction book!
- AMAZING VALUE: So many projects to make and build! Build over 300 exciting projects with this classic kit! Included 60+ pieces build exciting projects such as AM radios, burglar alarms, doorbells, and much more! You can even play electronic games with your friends.
- GREAT GIFT Give the gift of learning and fun this holiday season! Snap Circuits kits will keep kids busy and having fun all year round. Combine with other Snap Circuits kits for even more projects!
- NO TOOLS NEEDED Elenco Snap Circuits kits include everything you need to start learning immediately - and more. Unlike traditional electronics kits, no soldering or tools are required to build. The numbered and color-coded pieces snap easily onto the included plastic grid. Batteries Required
- AWARD WINNING KITS! We're proud to produce high quality products loved by kids, parents,and educators. Snap Circuits kits have won a number of awards - including the Specialty Toy of the Year Award, Seriously STEM! award, Good Housekeeping's Best Toys, Purdue University's Engineering Gift Guide, National Parenting Center's Seal of Approval, Toy Insider's Top Holiday Toys, placement on the Dr. Toy list of 100 Best Children's Products and placement on the Dr. Toy list of Best Educational products, and the "Stem Approved" Trustmark from Stem.org.
A Tale from Pete the Cat
I watched from the deep shadows of the hallway as my human and the small one hunched over the plastic grid. The air filled with the infuriatingly cheerful *snap* of plastic on metal, a sound that grated on my finely tuned senses. They were assembling something, following crude pictograms in a booklet with a level of concentration they rarely afford my dinner bowl. I yawned, a deliberate, jaw-cracking display of my utter boredom. They held up their creation: a jumble of wires connected to a speaker and a small, clear dome with a light inside. The small human flipped a switch. Nothing. A palpable cloud of disappointment filled the room, a scent I find particularly delicious. The humans abandoned their failed experiment on the living room rug and retreated to the kitchen, likely to console themselves with processed snacks. This was my moment. I slunk from the shadows, my gray paws silent on the wood floor. The device was an offense to minimalist aesthetics. Wires snaked everywhere. I gave the main unit a tentative pat. A switch, designated "S2" in their crude diagrams, clicked under my paw. Suddenly, a series of piercing beeps erupted from the speaker, accompanied by a frantic flashing from the light. *Pee-yow! Zee-zee-zee-Borp!* It was the sound of a space battle being fought by caffeinated insects. My first instinct was to flee. My second, to destroy the source of the cacophony. But then, I noticed something. A small knob, labeled "RV," sat near the speaker. As I nudged it with my nose, the pitch of the electronic carnage shifted, dropping from a shrill shriek to a guttural, warbling groan. I nudged it back. The shriek returned. My ears swiveled, processing the data. The switch was the trigger, but this knob... this knob was the conductor's baton. For the next hour, I was a composer of digital chaos. A gentle roll of the knob with my chin produced a rising crescendo of alien terror. A sharp tap with my claw created a percussive blast of static. I was a DJ for a robot apocalypse, a maestro of mayhem. When the humans returned, they found me sitting serenely beside the still-blinking, beeping device, a picture of innocence. They marveled that they had "fixed it." The fools. They had not built a toy; they had merely supplied the components for my latest masterpiece. It is an ugly, noisy thing, but as an instrument for my avant-garde musical expression, it will suffice. For now.