carrieormsby: littleBits Starter Kit, Extended Kit, and Holiday Kit review

Science and engineering are cool, right? That’s a matter of opinion, but there is an increasing need in our country for students to study the STEM subjects–Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. And with more information showing a link between technological innovation and creativity, why not foster both in your kids at the same time? Describing itself as, “an open source library of electronic modules that snap together with magnets for prototyping, learning and fun,” littleBits might just do that.

Click any image to enlarge.

Background

My elementary school-aged son is a huge Lego fan. He is quite cleverly creative and also mechanically inclined. While waiting for him to grow into the Lego Mindstorms set we bought him a while back, I thought littleBits might be a great way to get him to branch out and to familiarize him with electrical circuits and small mechanisms.

Packaging

The littleBits packaging is simple and somewhat whimsical in appearance. The box that contains each kit is actually a storage case with a magnetic closure for the lid and with separate compartments for each component. The Extended Kit also has multiple tray layers to accommodate the additional components included (see below). I would mention here that quite a few of the individual compartments are just a bit too small for the components that are intended to fit into them, so there is the potential that they could be damaged when re-inserting them.

Each littleBits kit contains various components, and are priced accordingly. I evaluated the Starter Kit, the Extended Kit, and the Holiday Kit. There is also a Teaser Kit available, as well as individual modules that can be purchased separately.

Starter Kit v0.2 ($89; shown below)

LED
RGB LED
bargraph
button
dimmer
pressure sensor
pulse
vibration motor
power
wire
custom plastic screwdriver
9V battery and cable
instruction sheet with quick start guide and project suggestions

Extended Kit v0.2 ($149; shown below)

long LED (x2)
toggle switch
slide dimmer
light trigger
motion trigger
roller switch
DC motor
buzzer
fan
wire (x2)
USB power + cable
instruction sheet with quick start guide and project suggestions

Holiday Kit v0.3 ($49; shown below)

pulse
long light wire
DC motor
LED
wire (x2)
custom plastic screwdriver
power
9V battery and cable
instruction sheet with quick start guide and project suggestions

Inside the Box

I gave the littleBits kits to my son as a Christmas gift. He had never heard of littleBits before, and the boxes looked interestingly mysterious. Upon opening the littleBox the three words that popped into my head were “cool”, “cute”, and “delicate”.

Cool because the littleBits components, or modules, have a very technical appearance. They basically look like printed circuit boards with some additional gizmos and greeblies sticking off the sides and top. So “cool” in a bit of a geeky fun sense. Cute because of the colors and size of the littleBits. They definitely have a bit of a toy-ish appearance. And delicate because they look a bit flimsy, as if any amount of abuse – or even use – of any kind might render them inert immediately. My son’s reaction was simply, “Cool!” and he immediately began building with gusto.

Within minutes, it looked like a littleBits bomb had exploded on our kitchen table, with several of us bellied up to it and building our own creations. In fact, around the table were my elementary school-aged son, my middle school-aged daughter (who isn’t typically interested in toys like this), my father-in-law (a career mechanical engineer, now retired) and me (a mechanical engineer). So we were geeking out pretty hard.

The littleBits are small, individual gadgets attached to printed circuit boards. They are designed to be modular, attaching to one another with small magnets, completing an electrical circuit and operating the devices on each littleBit. Due to the way the magnets are arranged, they force the littleBits to attach to one another only in an orientation that will allow it to make an electrical connection and complete a circuit. This intuitive connection functionality allowed us to start using littleBits to create little gadgety, circuity things in just a few minutes. The modules include features like LED lights, switches, fans, pressure sensors, and extension wires, just to name a few.

Initially, it was quite fun to just grab a littleBit out of the box, attach it to your power source (either one of the supplied 9V batteries or a USB connection to our MacBook) and see what it would do. This enabled several minutes of “Cool! Look what this does!” behavior. After working out the function of each of the littleBits and attaching them together in various combinations, there was a bit of a lull in interest. It was only then that we began to open quick start guide booklets, more to see the project suggestions than for any real need for instructions. My son wasn’t particularly interested in any of the suggested projects, which I suppose is the whole goal anyway, to enable creativity. He promptly began planning his own designs.

Since Christmas day, my son has pulled out the littleBits several times to build new inventions with them. However, on only the second invention session, we noticed that one of the littleBits modules was already faulty. An LED light wire was broken at its connection point to the circuit board. I was not happy with this. Also, my son had been extremely careful with the littleBits and they had only been used under my supervision. I took this as evidence that, unfortunately, my initial assessment of the delicate nature of littleBits seemed to be confirmed. One of my initial thoughts for a great application for littleBits would be in a classroom setting, to teach basic circuit design and so forth. However, considering how fragile the littleBits seem to be, I’m not sure that they would last long in a classroom full of excited young inventors. Additionally, the cost would probably be prohibitive for most schools.

Conclusion

littleBits is an interesting product. It’s a toy that is technical, yet intuitive to use. This plus its modularity enables quite a bit of creativity. However, its components are quite delicate and the kits are fairly expensive. At our house, adults and kids had a lot of fun with littleBits, but we were all wary of breaking them. Does littleBits promote kids’ interest in science, technology, engineering and math? Maybe, maybe not. But it couldn’t hurt.

Product Information

Price:	varies by kit (As reviewed: Starter $89, Extended $149, Holiday $49)
Manufacturer:	littleBits
Requirements:	None
Pros:	+ Versatile + Enables creativity + Models scientific principles + Storage case included + Intuitive
Cons:	- Very delicate parts - Expensive