LightUp Possibilities in Your Child’s Mind

We are excited to tell you about a hands-on STEM learning engineering toy, the LightUp Edison Kit.  As you know, we are big fans of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) products for kids at WellConnectedMom.  Anything that helps kids better understand how any of these subject areas can actually be fun and thought-provoking are an A+ in our book.

There are a lot of cause-and-effect toys out there.  Remember the one where you turn a dial and a panda bear pops up?  Or push a switch and an elephant appears?  Toys like this stimulate curiosity and strengthen the learning of pushing buttons and flipping switches though repetition.

LightUp Projects

The LightUp Edison Kit provides the same cause-and-effect stimulation as the baby pop-up toy, but with electricity currents instead.  Using LightUp’s magnetic blocks, kids can connect circuit blocks and rectangular wire blocks together to make projects like…

1.  Making a LED light turn on or vary in brightness

2.  Sounding a buzzer and making it very soft or super high pitched

3.  Using a light sensor to turn on a light or buzzing sound

4.  See how electricity can flow through other conductive items such as a fork

5.  Learn about the positive and negative elements and why grouping them together is important for something to work

 The Edison LightUp Kit is their starter kit.  It contains:

1. Battery
2. Light Sensor
3. 50k Variable Resistor
4. Momentary Switch
5. Red LED
6. Buzzer
7. 4 wire magnetic blocks
8. USB cable

What’s interesting about LightUp is their innovative free mobile app.  As you work on putting the pieces together, you can open the app and use its “Lens” to view your creation.  Using augmented reality, it will view your circuit blocks and label them in real time on your phone.  After you click the next arrow, it will show you an electricity current flowing through your circuit blocks to indicate that you built it correctly.  If it is not correct, it will give you hints about what you need to change to get it right.

LightUp Edison Kit

We tried out the Edison Kit while waiting for my daughter during her volleyball practice.  My son, his friend, and I opened the box and began to work.  I found it interesting that there were no instructions included in the box, just a printed link to go to in order to download the app.  I downloaded it for my Android Note 4 phone.  We tried building some circuits and then used the app to view the circuits.  The app would then identify our circuit blocks and tell us if we successfully built a circuit or give suggestions on how to fix it.

There were no projects to try within the app, so we learned about the importance of connecting positive connections to positive connections through cause-and-effect.  We also learned about using the light sensor and variable dial switch just by experimenting.  I couldn’t help but wonder if this is what LightUp had in mind – to give us no instructions and let us come up with solutions or not.

Later, I downloaded the iOS app on my iPhone 5S and was greeted with a lot more information.  The iOS app had projects they walk you through, one project at a time.  This app was very helpful, though we had already learned everything through trial and error in the Android app.

That being said, if you have an older child, let them try LightUp using the Android app first.  Their curiosity will truly lead them through understanding how the blocks are used.  If you have a younger child, say ages 4-8, use the iOS app to help teach them the concepts before exploring the circuits on their own.

LightUp was created by a Stanford teacher and electrical engineer while running educational workshops at Stanford.  They wanted a product to excite kids while teaching them the skills and concepts important to know before becoming scientists or engineers.  LightUp is great at capturing kids interests and stimulating their curiosity as they try different combinations for various effects.

Features:

• 10 blocks to build fun cause-and-effect projects with
• LightUp’s blocks are magnetic, making them easy to snap together
• No wiring or soldering needed
• Free learning iOS app (or us their PC version) to step you through putting together circuits and create projects

Pros:

• Easy to put together pieces – easier than putting together Lego’s
• Flexibility to piece together on a table, refrigerator, on a flat surface, or standing up on top of each other
• Teaches kids about circuity, electricity, and currents in a completely safe environment
• Creates teachable moments through cause-and-effect
• Teaches kids about augmented reality through using the Camera Lens in the app
• Compatible with other LightUp products to expand what’s possible to build

Cons:

• There are no instructions in the box and the Android app doesn’t provide much guidance.  Though the the iOS app has instructions
• Takes less than 30 minutes to put together all of the projects available in the Apple iOS app
• Needs more blocks so kids can build more challenging projects once they’ve mastered the basics
• There were a number of times when the augmented reality app didn’t label all of our blocks, making it hard for the app to give us tips

The LightUp Edison Kit can be purchased directly from LightUp‘s site for $49.99 and the Tesla can be purchased for $99.99.  The LightUp Edison Kit is also available at Amazon for $49.99 plus free shipping and the Tesla Kit is also available at Amazon for $82.77 plus free shipping.

A Mom’s Perspective

The LightUp Edison Kit is a starter Kit.  It helps teaches the basic concepts of circuity.  It can capture the attention of your child for up to an hour, more if you work with them.  If your child shows interest, it is definitely worth upgrading to a fuller kit like the Tesla Kit, which is compatible with the Edison Kit.  Kids will actually learn how to code using the Tesla kit and can make a burglar alarm, musical instrument, a TV remote and more.

And we are happy to report that more great learning opportunities for kids are coming!  An even more robust kit, called the Faraday Kit, will be introduced on KickStarter in the middle of the month.

I bought another circuitry kit for my kids this past Christmas.  To my surprise, they barely played with it.  I realized in reviewing this kit, it was my involvement in discovering the LightUp Edison Kit made all the difference with their interest.  Sometimes kids need a little help from Mom or Dad to help stimulate their interest and curiosity a little further.

*  I was given a LightUp Edison Kit in exchange for my STEM curiosity and honest opinions.  All expressed opinions are my own.