Electronics Class for Elementary Students?

Raise your hand if you bought an electronics kit for you child for Christmas this year and it is still unopened or unused. Raise em up if you have a dusty electronics kit with missing parts in the bottom of your homeschool supply closet? Ok, You may put your hands down. I’ve been there too.

This Christmas, we received a kit from a friend at church. I cornered him into coming once a week to share projects with the boys. Two teens and the teacher have been coming on Mondays or Tuesdays for over a month now. The older teen gets pretty excited about it, and really tries to troubleshoot. They have a book to help them out. The younger teen is along for the ride, and now, after a month, is starting to get it.

But wait, you might be saying – what about your 6th grade son? The 12 year old? Ya. He hasn’t been excited about the class. The older boys elbow him out. He still isn’t really a ‘read to learn’ sort of a kid.

A couple of weeks ago – the Lord answered my unspoken prayer and I found a company called EEME. I found out that EEME has hands-on projects that teach kids ages 6-12 about electronics. Each project is paired with online curricula to not only guide the kids in assembling the project but also to teach the concepts applied. I quickly emailed the company, and that very day, got a response. Within a couple of days we had a Project Genius Light on the way to us!

The box arrived – and it alone – is in present worthy presentation. Beautiful papers, simple note, and each piece carefully included in it’s own baggie. The note has the link to the free online video.

Jon and I started the videos together. It was really simple to log on – all you need is a password. Bonus: Right now they have a program where if you refer people to the videos and they sign up, you both earn $5.00 towards the EEME store. Super Cool.

I have to admit. I was a little nervous about the videos. We review a LOT of educational based videos targeted to kids. Sometimes I really feel for the production crew. You can tell they have a lot of passion, but not a lot of time spent with kids.

Not True with EEME for sure! It might be a clue that the company email is dad@eeme.co. He teaches to the kids like they are Persons. Adults. Learners. I liked how he chopped the videos into very small portions. Some only a minute long. Intro, Activity, Learn, and Question are the titles before the video to let you know what type of content is next.

We were able to go through the videos in less than an hour, with a dinner eating break before the final step. At first, the older boys were stand offish. They wanted to prove that they ‘knew’ everything that would be on the videos because they had completed several projects. But I had pre-viewed the video. I knew that they needed to watch it.

(Nothing like a blog to show what needs picked up in the house.
Guess what part of the house is getting some cleaning today?)

Soon enough, they were all paying attention.

As the videos went on, they noses got closer.

I learned a lot from watching the videos twice. I learned which end of the LED light is positive. I learned where the bus was on the breadboard. I learned how to connect the wires to make the LED go live I learned how to separate the power of the breadboard using multiple transistors.

There were a few steps given to experiment with ‘what would happen if’. Most of these were already in the boys’ understanding, but it was fun to hear. The vocabulary of the video is excellent. Who knew on Christmas Day, that I’d be saying things like transistors, photo sensors, breadboards, bus, and such.

The projects in the book they had before, told How To Do It. But it didn’t say why. It gave steps to troubleshoot, but there was no understanding. With the boys all learning together, it was still just a fun project. We work on Robotics as part of our STEM learning. Two years of FLL has taught us that “The Kids Do The Work”. We give them access to tools and mentors and resources to learn how. I believe that this video is an excellent How and What to the STEM learning. It takes, ‘Fun Electronics Project Night” to the level of “Great Learning Fun Electronics Night”. Does that make sense?

Here is Jon holding his completed Project Genius Light Box. (Cover is not on).
He had a pretty big smile.

(Kids laughing that I jumped on FB right after the class. Man that area needs cleaned!)

So – Although I wanted to order one because we needed it for our class – I was given one for free in exchange for sharing with you on the blog from EEME. Thank you EEME!

So for the review I give you the

Pros: Simple. Quick customer service. Personal contact. Excellent easy to follow videos. All pieces needed in the kit. Simple for ages as young as 6, and fun enough for the over 20 crowd. Brings STEM vocabulary into your home and into the conversation with electronics. Makes learning fun. Any parent with any skill level can be a helper.

Cons: The light sensor was not very sensitive. We had to shine a light on it to make it work. Boys still loved it. Waiting to see if there are more projects given in the future to add on to the kit to keep the learning going.

For you – I have a 50% off special! EEME would love to extend a 50% offer for my readers ($25) for the Project Genius Light.

To claim the offer, email dad@eeme.co with the subject “$25 (50%) Promo – Petra School”.

Find EEME on:

Disclaimer, I received the above project kit for free in exchange for my honest opinion after using the product in my home with our electronics class. I am not an affiliate and will not gain from your purchase – I REALLY think this kit should be in the home of every friend I know.