Thread: Learn electronics/sensors--Radio Shack lab kits

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Radio Shack has an Electronics Learning Lab and an Electronic Sensors Lab that is geared for those ages 10 and up. They are self-paced hands on lessons and the labs come complete with all you need to construct and test circuits. The course book is written by Forrest M. Mims III.

These two kits use to be available in the stores, but as of the past year I haven't seen them in any of my local RSs. The labs are apparently still available, and right now (until end of year), are on sale $15 and $20 off respectively, so a great time to pick one up. For whatever reason the stores in my area have only been stocking the more kid-like Snap-Kits so I was happy to see the Labs still available for purchase.

Here's the links to the labs if you are interested:

Electronics Learning Lab

Electronic Sensors Lab

I personally think these are a great way to introduce kids to electronics. I still have the radio shack 101 experiments kit I purchased new 25 years ago. When my nephew turned 10, I purchased one for him for Christmas. He still has his as well, 10 years later. The new ones are a LOT nicer than the originals, but the well-written manuals, which actually describe how the individual parts work to make a circuit, are the real appeal.

Ghost of Spookie, thanks for posting that. I put this on my wish list for Christmas! When I was a kid I used to go with my dad to Radio Shack and we had catalogs from when it was called Allied or Allied Radio Shack. I remember those type of kits, but never had one. During my adult years I would sometimes go in there and look around but they always had more toyish kits in the store. Recently I was trying to do an electronics project from a tutorial and went to a local Radio Shack to get some supplies. I was surprised to find they didn't have the wire or some of the items that seemed like they would be pretty basic. Mostly phones and audio equipment in the actual stores around here. But I printed out the online page, in case my "Santa" wants to order a kit for me! I like things to get things to "play" with at Christmas!

I know what you mean about RS and their business model. They turned into a cell phone and toy store. You used to be able to actually build stuff with the quality parts they used to sell. Now you get over-priced factory seconds that are sometimes mis-labeled or have no specs on the package at all. I know a guy who once worked at an LED manufacturer. They had 3 boxes on the inspection line, one for LEDs that passed spec, one for those that didn't light, and one for the LEDs that that lit, but failed spec. They sold those LEDs to Radio Shack, no joke.
Another good resource for electronics knowledge is All About Circuits : Free Electric Circuits Textbooks. It's a forum similar to this one, but also has detailed online textbooks that are updated regularly by the moderators and other contributors. Some of the replies to questions can get very technical, but if you explain that you're in learning mode, they'll help you to understand the theory and get the best answers for you.

I remember the kit my parents bought me ~15 years ago! I don't have it anymore though :-(

I just found one of these electronic learning labs at my local salvation army sat for a $1.99,new & unopened. fri & sat are usually 1/2 off day, so .98 cents i picked it up for my friends kid to play with.
He's 11 & loves the 3 axis skulls & wants to build one,so i figured he can start learning with this kit about electronics for .98 cents ! Love the Salvation army & great deal,plus helps out & recycles.

I wish I found this post before Christmas. I would have picked up both before the price went up. Darn it.