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Electric Motors Catalyst Review by Audrey Tolle

Tinkering Labs, Inc.
http://www.tinkeringlabs.com

I am admittedly a tad jealous of all the cool gadgets that are available to homeschoolers these days. I often tell my children that they are incredibly blessed to have all the “hands on” manipulatives and projects at their fingertips. My kids love all things STEM related and were instantly attracted to the Electric Motors Catalyst by Tinkering Labs.

We were impressed as soon as we opened the box and saw how organized everything was. The box contains the list of contents printed right on the inside so you can see that you have everything. It includes everything you need to get started including safety glasses, batteries, and a screwdriver. The instruction book begins with a note saying feel free to put this book down and get started building and exploring as soon as you read the safety page. It continues with tips, tricks, and ideas to help the student continue confidently. The chassis and other parts are made out of plywood and are very quality in nature.

There are ten challenges included in the kit such as “Build something that can launch a wheel across the room” and “Make a machine that can scramble an egg.” There is support on the Tinkering Labs website including how-to videos if needed, should your student get stuck. Our family had a blast with this set and think it’s pretty much the coolest thing ever. It is such an awesome kit to get the brain wheels turning. My kids truly felt that they were real inventors and scientists as they tinkered around with trying to accomplish the challenges. There were a few times when their attempts flopped and we helped give some guidance, but for the most part, they were able to do this on their own. The great thing is that there is no “right” way to do this, there can be countless solutions to meet the challenge. It evokes the creative and the logical sides of the brain. We have done about three of the challenges so far, but they definitely want to try all ten.

Our first challenge my boys chose to work on was to “make a ride for one of your toys.” The first thing my husband demonstrated to our boys was how to complete a circuit to the electric motor, and learning that red goes to red and black goes to black. From there, they were able to hook the motor up to chassis and get the wheels moving showing how the chemical potential energy from the battery can be turned into kinetic mechanical energy by the wheel being turned by the motor. With some trial and error on product design though experimentation, they were able to make a motorized sleigh for their dinosaur.

The Electric Motors Catalyst sells for $55.00 on their website, which I feel is a very fair price for what you get and the quality of the product. I highly recommend this product for anyone who has someone who likes to explore, create, invent, take apart, and analyze. It is such a fun experiment!

-Product review by Audrey Tolle, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, March, 2017

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