Book of the Week: The Crafty Kid’s Guide to DIY Electronics

By on October 22nd, 2019 in book

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The Crafty Kid’s Guide to DIY Electronics [Source: Amazon] The Crafty Kid’s Guide to DIY Electronics [Source: Amazon]

This week’s selection is “The Crafty Kids Guide to DIY Electronics” by Helen Leigh.

This is definitely not a book about 3D printing, yet it is, in a way. It’s a book for children to get them involved in making simple electronic projects.

Leigh takes the reader through several increasingly complex projects, step by step, to complete built objects that any child would desire. Leigh divides the projects into four categories: “paper circuits”, “soft circuits”, “wearables”, and “robotics”.

Some of the projects include:

  • Light-Up Greeting Card

  • Dancing Origami Ladybird

  • Cardboard Doorbell

  • Flickering Firefly Wall Art

  • Spy Bird

  • Pop-Up Cityscape

  • Circuit Sewing

  • Squishable Sparkle Heart

  • Tiny Squishy Torch

  • Constellation Night Light

  • Grumpy Monster with DIY Tilt Sensor

  • Conductivity-Sensing Bracelet

  • LED Paper Flower Crown

  • Touchscreen Glove & BFF Gloves

  • Dark-Sensing Amulet

  • Secret Signal Mood Badge

  • Googly-eyed Trash Robot

  • Modern Art Robot

  • Extremely Annoying Robot Alarm Clock

  • Unicorn Automation

Personally, I am most interested in making the “Extremely Annoying Robot Alarm Clock” for certain friends.

The reason I’m interested in this particular book is that I feel it could lead to a future in 3D printing for some children exposed to these topics. By building many of these unusual projects, a child would certainly gain a significant appreciation for simple electronics and how they can be applied in real life situations.

Consider then, what said child might want to do when they are a bit older. Having an understanding of electronics application, they might want to build projects of their own that leverage electronics in some way.

And what better way to do that than to design and 3D print components to support the electronics and the functionality required? This is a rather common practice among many 3D printer operators today, and thus I see a book like this as helping individuals get to the same level of capability.

It won’t happen overnight, but will in the future.

As they say, when is the best time to plant a tree? Answer: Twenty years ago. Better answer: Right now.

Via Amazon

By Kerry Stevenson

Kerry Stevenson, aka "General Fabb" has written over 8,000 stories on 3D printing at Fabbaloo since he launched the venture in 2007, with an intention to promote and grow the incredible technology of 3D printing across the world. So far, it seems to be working!