Hi folks!

The Minnesota CoderDojo group has been using the SparkFun Inventor’s kit for about a year now. We are very happy with the SIK and the instruction booklets that they come with are top-notch. I am starting to write a blog on some the things I have learned and I would like to share experiences with others.

One of my first findings is that the kids LOVE circuit lab #12 (driving the DC motors) however over time the leads on most of the motors have broken off. I have a post on how to fix them here:

Motors for Arduino Labs.

I have also added a new lab that allows the students to change the direction of the motors. This helps them with the future robot labs.

I’d like to suggest an improvement to the SIK: please use 1/4W resistors, not the 1/8W ones as currently. The latter are spindly and often very difficult to insert into the breadboard. The cost to beef up the leads can’t be more than a nickel or a dime. Otherwise, the SIK is very useful, particularly with the updated and improved handbook and code examples. Thanks!

Sparkfun I love you, when I thought “SIK” could not be better improve it, will be great to use with students :)

Hi, do you have any idea when stocks will become available again?

I second the suggestion of going to ¼ watt resistors. My middle schoolers are fairly heavy handed, and their resistors are looking really sad after 9 weeks of use. I eventually encouraged them to “loosen up” the points on the breadboard with a connector wire before putting in the resistor lead.

Consider some female connecting wires as well, so you can put a little distance between some of the components and the board. It gets a little crowded to use the flex/softpot/etc while it’s stuck in the breadboard. We’ve also had a heck of a time getting the tactile buttons to stay in the breadboard, even after straightening the legs. One press, and they jump out. Any suggestions before I start soldering headers or hookup wire to them?

Otherwise, the 3.1 kits have been a real blast for the kids! We’ve explored discrete circuits as well as the Arduino controlled circuits. I’ve added a handful of PIR sensors, ultrasonic rangers, hall effect transistors, and infrared transistors to the classroom shared parts box. Soon, I’m going to order a long neopixel strip and cut it into eight-to-ten light segments, add connectors, signal wire resistor, and large capacitor (1000uf) to make them more kid-proof and go further with these kits!

Any release date on this? I’m thinking about investing in the kit but should I wait for this one or go ahead and get V3.1?

Bonus points for the references (including picture) to the Nintendo Power Glove. My neighbor had that thing and it was AWESOME (didn’t work worth crap, but that’s not the point. It was awesome)!!