STEM

Circuit Cubes Announces Building Block Kits to Teach Circuit Operations

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 02/23/17

A 21st century building block company has released its first three kits — electronic building blocks that snap together and power projects, showing kids the fundamentals of circuitry as they do hands-on play. Circuit Cubes from Tenka Labs stack together to turn household items such as jars, cardboard tubes and old toys into powered objects that drive a motor, light an LED or do something else.

The current set of kits, available for pre-order, include three "essential" cubes — the motor cube, a battery cube and an LED cube. Each is $59.95 and comes with wires, Lego-style bricks and other parts pertaining to the theme of the kit: "Bright Lights," "Smart Art" and "Whacky Wheels." Because the cubes are transparent, users can see the electronic components to better understand how circuits work.

"As teachers and parents, we know that lessons on engineering and circuitry need to be grounded in play to really spark kids' interest and imagination," said Co-founder Nate MacDonald in a press release. "We love the idea of bringing toys into the classroom, but quickly noticed that most educational products today tend to overlook the importance of showing how to connect point A to point B. At the same time, some toys that aim to teach aren't actually that fun to play with."