To add your own word or phrase, turn on the Slide Switch (S1) and the POV fan will spin displaying the preprogrammed phrases. Press the “C” button on the Selector block (S8) to scroll through the phrases until you get to the “YOUR PHRASE” message. Press and hold the Press Switch (S2) until you see the blinking cursor displayed on the POV fan. Press the “C” button on the Selector block (S8) to move down through the alphabet (and numbers or characters) until you get to the letter or character you want to display. Conversely, to move up through the letters and characters, press the “A” button. Once the letter you want is displayed on the POV fan, press the momentary switch on the Press Switch (S2) block to move the cursor to the next space.

Continue this process until you complete your custom word or phrase. Press and hold the Press Switch (S2) to save your message and exit. NOTE: the POV fan editor only has capital letters.

Snap Circuits might seem at first to be somewhat pricey. A Snap Circuits resistor costs $1.49 USD. A resistor from Mouser costs fifteen cents. On the other hand, the Snap Circuits Arcade set costs $64.95 whereas the littleBits base kit costs $99.00. So, you get a lot more Snap Circuits than littleBits and at a lower price.

As an introduction to electronics, both Snap Circuits and littleBits have an advantage over breadboard and conventional spring connector electronics kits. Some folks might find working with electronics and breadboards a bit too fiddly. Spring connector kits are easier to use than breadboards, but once you build a circuit of any complexity with a spring connector kit, it ends up looking like a rat’s nest of wires that’s difficult to troubleshoot.

It’s much easier to snap together a circuit with Snap Circuits and to troubleshoot problems. If you switch a project on and nothing happens, you can, at a glance, compare the circuit in the manual to the circuit you’ve built and easily find where you’ve connected something incorrectly.

To conclude, though Snap Circuits electronic blocks are more expensive than individual electronic components, young learners should find them easier to use than a breadboard and electronics, and much easier to troubleshoot than spring connector electronic kits. Parents will find the Snap Circuits Arcade kit a better value at $64.95 than the littleBits base kit at $99.00.