Announcing: Kits!

Dear Parents & Participants,

We are pleased to announce that our first batch of Hardware Kits are now available to participants in our courses, with more on the way soon!  This is in response to many of you asking what to get for your children, and whether we could arrange for kits to complement what the participants learn in our courses.

What distinguishes our Electronics Kits?

1. Curated selection: We only put into our kits the equipment that will be used again and again as your child progresses in Electronics, Computing, and Engineering Design.  We clearly label all optional components as 'By request' so that you can make the right decisions on how you spend your budget, knowing what is core for your child's learning and what can be deferred to later.
    
2. Road-tested: All of the products that we put in our kits are good enough for us to use in our classrooms day in day out.  They are chosen for their reliability, durability, good value-for-money, and their ease to use.  Furthermore, these products are good.  They hold up.  They are products we incorporate into our own designs, and use with our own children.
    
3. All the Prep is Done: Buying components from ecommerce sites can mean getting components that need a little more to be ready to use.  Sometimes you need to solder some pins, terminate wires, or modify a part to make it brighter, louder, or softer as needed.  All our items are pre-prepped before being put into our kits.  This means your child is able to use the items in the same way that they use them in our classes: ready to go.
    
4. Buy only what you need.  No duplication.  Replenish easily when you need to.  No need to buy 10 components at a time when all you need is 1.  We don't duplicate components in multiple kits, so you won't end up paying twice for extras you don't need.  Where you need/want more of a particular part, you can easily replenish individual components, line item by line item.
    
5. Simple packaging, no extra markup.  Our kits come in simple plastic containers, see-through so you can see what's inside, frugal on your wallet.
    
6. Low prices, all the time: We benchmark our prices to be at least 10% below Amazon's Next Day price, and we review our prices frequently to ensure you're getting great value.  If you find a lower price on Amazon, do let us know!

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

When do the kits become available for purchase?

Students can purchase kits after the relevant material is covered in the course.  This ensures that they understand how to use the components, and have had some practice under supervision.  It also ensures that they understand any safety / best practice considerations.  Our goal is to maximise joy, engagement, and learning while reducing frustration.

Do all courses have kits?

Yes!  All our courses have kits to allow participants to practice at home what they have learnt in the course, as well as showcase what they're doing to their friends and family.  It also allows them to explore and come up with their own ideas, and bring these back to the course (or our Entrepreneur's Club) to share with other enthusiastic participants.  Our delight is to see the momentum generated in the class carry on outside the class.  The engineering, testing, and troubleshooting skills we teach while participants learn are for the long-run.

Should a participant bring their kit to class?

For the first courses, no, but as the participants rise into more advanced courses, then yes! 
In the early courses, it is better they use class equipment so that our parts don't get mixed with theirs .  However, we do welcome participants who have built something at home that they would like to show to their class, in which case please contact your instructor to facilitate this!

The Catalogue has Kits and a section called Applications / Builds?  What do I need to buy for my child?

The Catalogue has a Buying Guide included, which breaks out the recommended purchases for each age stream.  Core kits are the backbone of the equipment and they contain components which will be used frequently across many applications.  The Applications/Build list contains specialised components grouped by project, allowing parents/participants to pick which of the many cool applications to purchase and when to purchase (birthday, gifting holiday, etc.), without increasing a family's initial cost-of-entry to owning the core essentials.

Which kit has the Microcontroller?  Is the software included?

Kit #3 has the microcontroller (a breadboardable Arduino Nano), the USB-mini cable to connect to the laptop, and the MTech software that runs on GForth which they use to wite code for the controller over the USB cable.

What kind of Laptop is needed?

We recommend a Windows laptop.  All capabilities are fully tested and verified on Windows laptops.  Mac or Linux users interested in being testers, please reach out!