No nasty shocks here! (John Adams Hot Wires)

Member Name: emmachilcott

Product:	John Adams Hot Wires
Date:	11/06/09 (56 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use, different every time

Disadvantages: May be over simplified for older users

My husband is an electrical engineer, and it looks as though my eldest son (10) is following in his footsteps. One day we discovered him sat in his bedroom surrounded by wires, crocodile clips, batteries and bulbs after raiding his Dads toolbox. I had to admire his enthusiasm, but whilst I didn't mind him experimenting with things that were relatively simple, when he came down asking for screwdriver so that he could take his stereo apart, I had to draw the line!

I mentioned the above episode to a friend, and she told me about Hotwires. I had not heard of them, but a quick internet search pointed me in the direction of The Entertainer toy shop. I'm sure that they are available elsewhere, but The Entertainer is very local to me, so I nipped down there for further research. Hotwires RRP is £39.99, but I was delighted to find them on offer with £10 off.

I quickly discovered that a Hotwires set consists of lots of components like sensors, bulbs, alarms, speakers, antennas, fuses and all sorts of other technical bits that you "snap" together, (a bit like a press stud) with connectors to make a circuit in order to make simple devices. This sounded perfect for my son, so I bought it, and he absolutely loves it.

The set comes with a 46 page well illustrated manual with step by step instructions to guide you through whatever you want to make. The whole process is made simpler by each sturdy component being clearly numbered and colour coded. The pieces snap together easily and a plastic "workstation" is provided to build the circuit on: no more trailing wires across the bedroom floor!

Hotwires come in a large box, with a eye catching picture on the front of a circuit already made up. Inside the box the polystyrene tray is divided into sections, which keeps all of the bits seperate. My son has got into a really good habit of putting the bits away in their correct positions, which makes it much easier to play with next time. All of the pieces are of a really good quality and do not look as though they would break easily, even with heavy use.

There are 107 experiments in the manual, so it would take me forever to list them, so here is just a taster that are among his favourites to make: A touch sensitive doorbell, an FM radio, sound recording, circuit breaking alarm, automatic street lamp, a rain sensor, the list goes on and on, and it is going to take him a long time to do all of them! It even explains things like NOT, NAND and AND gates, which thoroughly confused me in physics, but he has learnt what they are all about, and taken in the information perfectly happily, which will give him a great headstart in school later on. This kit does work with batteries, however he has had it for five months now and he is still on the same set

This is a really simple and basic introduction to electronics, and even though the use of every component is explained enough so it is clear what they are for, it is not over complicated and confusing. This kit is recommended for children aged eight plus, which in my opinion is spot on. My seven year old, is just about starting to get interested in the end result of the experiments, but he is happy to let his brother do most of the construction!

I think that Hotwires provides really good value for money, especially as it means that all of the electrical devices in my house remain intact for the time being! I would recommend this kit to any budding scientists out there with a quizzical mind and if it is looked after well, I'm sure that it will last for years, and provide hours of entertainment.

Summary: Great for a first electronics kit