It’s pretty obvious that Elenco Snap Circuits are not only a fun toy to play with, but also really great for kids to learn from as well. But as fun and educational as these sets are, they’re really only half of the equation. To get the most out of a given Snap Circuits set, the best thing to do is take advantage of the student training program kits and the student/ teacher manuals. Whether used in the home or as part of a school project, these extras will really help drive the concepts home.
If you’re just starting out and don’t have any sets at all, the best way to get started is with the Student Training Programs. Elenco has put their standard Snap Circuits together with nice storage cases as well as helpful manuals and guides.
The most basic set is the SC-100R contains more than 30 parts for building more than 100 experiments. This set includes a student guide and operates on 2x AA batteries and is probably best suited for younger children. The SC-300R on the other hand is a bit meatier and may be probably the best entry point if your child is older in that it has a lot more experiments to do and includes more parts. The SC-300R includes two project books and a student guide. Lastly, the SC-500R and the SC-750R are a little more involved in that they have more experiments and longer manuals, but they also include some real world applications and problem solving quizzes. All of these sets do come in a nice case and they include plenty of instructional materials to really get the basic concepts of electricity down. As the lessons progress, they get more challenging and teach more and more complex ideas. Each kit also teaches about resistors, capacitors, transistors, series circuits and more. As always, the kits would benefit from the ACSNAP battery eliminator to save money on batteries.
If you already own some Snap Circuits and are somewhat lost, or you maybe have lost your student materials, don’t worry, you can buy the Elenco 753307 Student Guide which covers lessons for the SC-300R to the SC-750R and they come in full color. The TG-300 teacher’s guide covers all of the Student programs and comes in full color as well. The key thing to note is that the teacher’s guide is to help prepare the teacher to administer the lessons for the various kits and acts as a supplement to the lessons in the student programs and the manuals. The TG-300 includes 200 color pages of student manuals and the teacher’s guide. Similarly, the TG-500 Teacher’s Pak includes a teacher’s guide and student manuals, again in full color. These manuals and student guides are great companions to each other and the main kits. It really is the best way to help your kids learn, whether it be for fun, homeschooling or as an in school group activity.
As a side note, we’ve had great success with the SC-500R, in February of 2018, EIO.com donated several of the kits and teaching materials to a local school. The kids not only had a blast, they learned a lot too.
Have you used any of these? We’d love to hear from you! Make sure to leave us product reviews for your favorites and tell us about your favorite on Facebook or Instagram!
If you’re just starting out and don’t have any sets at all, the best way to get started is with the Student Training Programs. Elenco has put their standard Snap Circuits together with nice storage cases as well as helpful manuals and guides.
As a side note, we’ve had great success with the SC-500R, in February of 2018, EIO.com donated several of the kits and teaching materials to a local school. The kids not only had a blast, they learned a lot too.
Have you used any of these? We’d love to hear from you! Make sure to leave us product reviews for your favorites and tell us about your favorite on Facebook or Instagram!