
Ask HN: Best gift for a 9 year old kid interested in electronics - rreyes1979
A friend&#x27;s son wants to get into electronics, he is 9, brilliant and loves to learn new stuff by himself. What would you recommend as a Christmas gift for him? An Arduino board and a good book on what to do with it? Maybe something else?
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cdvonstinkpot
I too used to use those Radio Shack kits with the spring terminals, & loved
it! I wound up teaching myself so much that I was able to start in 'Year 2' of
a local vocational school for electronics repair- just from what I learned
from those kits.

Later on, I felt limited by how they were designed, and found that 'Free Radio
Berkeley' sold kits to build pirate radio stations, which I thought was the
coolest thing I'd ever found, so I ordered some kits from them to work on. It
turned out that the kits were missing quite a few parts (which weren't
available through Radio Shack), so I had to search & find mail-order
electronics suppliers to order the missing parts from. Another thing that was
'wrong' with these kits, which I had to find a solution for, was that they
only included pictorial schematics- no use of standard electronic schematics
like you'd find everywhere else. So I had to draw my own schematics based on
what was present on the circuit boards. This eventually helped me in the long
run, as I was able to bring the transmitter + the schematics I drew up to job
interviews, & I landed my first electronics repair job based on my work on the
transmitter.

EDIT: Another thing you might look into that I found educational/fun is mods
for CB radios. A good CB shop can sell you a CB Radio & parts which allow you
to make some changes & add extra functions by making simple alterations to the
circuit boards. I added more wattage, a frequency slider, extra channels above
& below the standard 40, & sideband to a Cobra 148GTL back in the day. There
was a small community of people on the radio where I grew up, & I would stay
up late at night talking with them on my fancy radio. Later I got a linear
amplifier, but was always afraid to use it since they're illegal- so I got rid
of that to play it safe.

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Cheyana
When I was a kid (way back in the 70s) my parents always used to get those
Radio Shack kits with the spring terminals you could wire together between the
parts to make all kinds of circuits. Similar to this kit...

[http://www.kohls.com/product/prd-1604010/elenco-200-in-1-ele...](http://www.kohls.com/product/prd-1604010/elenco-200-in-1-electronic-
project-lab.jsp?pfm=rrrecs-pdp-gtab1)

They still sell the old RS stuff on Ebay. I guess those Arduino boards are
nice and all, but kids like to create things sometimes, not just play with
pre-made stuff. I loved to tinker with things when I was a kid (and not just
take alarm clock guts out and stick them in a different case) so those kinds
of kits really kept up my interest.

~~~
insoluble
> but kids like to create things sometimes

As time goes on and as technology progresses, the minimum parts or components
used while "making something oneself" become more complex. For example, there
would have been a time when making your own capacitor using glass jars and
chemicals, or making your own light bulb using a vacuum pump, would have been
the equivalent of making your own remote-controlled car today. Every
generation builds on the advancements of the previous generations. Failing to
do so may doom one to focus only on the advancements of generations past. At
the same time, I definitely understand the nostalgia of imagining your modern
child experiencing those same things you did when you were younger. The
problem is that the world changes too fast for this approach to really be
advisable.

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gus_massa
When my daughter was younger, we bought her a "Snap Circuits Jr electronic
Set". It's easy to connect and has a few projects. She liked it a lot.

Later we bought her a "Arduinos Sparkfun Professional Inventor's Kit", but she
didn't play with it too much. (This is more expensive (x2 or x3) that buying
each part separately but it's a nice starting kit and has many initial
projects. (Buy more LEDs in the local store, they are cheap and nice.))

For more ideas, I remember a very interesting page: The Sylvia's Super-Awesome
Maker Show! : [http://sylviashow.com/](http://sylviashow.com/)

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inconnu126
You should have a look at Circuit Scribe
[http://www.circuitscribe.com/](http://www.circuitscribe.com/)

It's basically pens filled with some kind of metallic ink that conducts
electricity. It comes with "blocks" you place on a paper sheet. You use the
pens to connect the blocks.

------
homarp
The good book is key. And a tutor, and/or regular visit to a makerspace, to
get him started.

~~~
inlineint
+1 for tutor I think that there should be someone who could sometimes answer
for his questions and help if things don't work as he want.

