In this ever-changing world of technology, it becomes crucial to make kids familiar with the technology and keep up with the pace so that they are not left behind. This fundamental skill would make your kids proficient with any of their technical projects. However, teaching kids electronics is not a cakewalk. It requires utmost patience and strategies.
Let’s have a look at how to teach electronics to kids in ways that make teaching electronics to your kids easier.
How to Teach Electronics to Kids?
#1. Invest into a Solderless Breadboard and Some Standard Components
A solderless breadboard is a tiny electronic base used for developing a circuit. It enables you to connect all the components easily and neatly. This would create room for experimenting without damaging the parts. The best part is, when your child is done with one circuit, they can simply extract the wires and rearrange them to assemble another.
Tip- Help them with the first few circuits until they get the knack of it, then let them construct their own. This could provide your kids with hours of fun.
Also read: Best Online Learning Apps for Toddlers: Does Your Phone have these Best Educational Apps?
#2. Have a Look at Some Circuit
Electronic circuits are described using circuit diagrams, which explain the components and how you can connect them together. This technique is a great way to start constructing different circuits with your children. You can make them learn the diagram symbols for basic electronic components. Initiate with components used in simple circuits such as resistors, batteries, transistors, capacitors, and LEDs. Explain to them how the wires connect all the components. It would give them an idea of how to fabricate a circuit.
Your kids don’t need to understand the theory behind electronics to start building the circuit diagrams. All they need is a well-explained circuit diagram and the components to build it. They can further explore the nuances of electronics on their own. Your kids can even refer to various resources online which explain hardware projects and circuit diagrams.
#3. Explain to Them the Primary Concepts of Electronics With Examples
If your kids have been familiar with electronics and have played around a little with the subject, then they start becoming curious. To cater to their curiosity, it becomes important to teach them the basic concepts. You can start with:
Voltage, Current, and Resistance
These three concepts are fundamentals of an electrical circuit. You can refer to various online resources to understand these concepts. Once your kid has a grip on the basics, it becomes easier for them to get creative with their electronic circuits and other projects.
Resistor
Why resistors are imperative for an LED? You can explain this to them through an example of how an LED is destroyed due to current overload. Resistors prevent this overload. This would give them a better understanding of the role and importance of resistors in a circuit.
Closed-loop
The current flows from the positive pole to the negative pole of the battery in an enclosed loop. If the loop is open from any side, it cannot hold the current, and the electricity stops flowing. During the time of troubleshooting, this is the first step to look into. Your kids can save their troubleshooting time by learning this lesson beforehand.
Ohm’s Law
This law is the foundation of electronics. It states that electric current is inversely proportional to resistance and directly proportional to voltage. You can explain to your kid in layman terms that the voltage would also increase if you increase the current, but the resistance would decrease. Make them use Ohm’s law to calculate the resistance of a circuit.
Note: If you are on the fence on the above-listed topics, there are plenty of resources online and various ebooks that explain the concepts thoroughly. Complex explanations of such topics would break their interest instead of making it, and they would feel electronics is hard. Make sure that you explain all the concepts simply with various real-life examples so that they can relate to them.
#4. Invest Into a Soldering Kit and Soldering Iron
A soldering kit offers you to construct permanent circuits. It has an embedded circuit board and some components required to build a permanent circuit. This kit also comprises instructions and ideas which help you start. If you do not know how to solder, you can learn it from various resources, and it is easy to pick up.
If you and your kid are just starting, it’s better to invest in a basic soldering kit. You can follow the instructions and work step by step. It’s the basic step to dive right into electronics and hardware if you don’t know where to begin.
Tip- Make sure that your kids do the soldering work under your supervision as soldering iron gets extremely hot, and it’s risky.
How is Electronic for Kids Beneficial?
#1. Improves Learning and Retention
Studies have shown that a curriculum having electronics and technology improves early literacy skills in children. It elevates learning and retention power in your kids. It can help them step outside their comfort zone and learn new things. Learning technology expands their learning circles and boosts their understanding.
#2. Cultivates Confidence and Self-esteem
It’s easier to step back from the failures rather than overcoming them, but making mistakes, observing the implications, and learning from them is the beauty of learning. Learning electronics fosters all of the above-mentioned skills in your kids. Your kids would feel confident when they would be able to build the projects on their own. Learning new things would boost their self-esteem, and your kids would feel that they are capable of everything.
#3. Makes Room for Creativity
Kids are quite intuitive by nature, and they love to experiment with new things. Learning electronics would help them build what they want, and they can turn their thoughts into reality. Kids become very happy just by making a simple circuit. They feel a sense of achievement. This builds interest and sparks more creative ideas into them.
#4. Problem-solving
Encountering a problem while learning something new is inevitable. Good problem solvers always figure out ways and overcome their hurdles. If you want your kids to be good problem solvers, teaching them electronics is a great idea. They would face various roadblocks and challenges in learning, which would make them strategists problem solvers.
#5. Improves Logical Thinking
Technology has opened up various learning floodgates; learning electronics is one of them. It improves the learning ability of your kid as they would build everything from scratch. They can analyse the problem and troubleshoot to find the solutions. This whole process will enhance their cognitive abilities and build logic. If it’s difficult for you to make time, you can refer to The Real School Of Montessori, a new age school that provides one-on-one online mentoring to your kids. It trains the kids to be problem solvers, thinkers, and innovators.
Conclusion
No matter what you do and how you teach them, the basic idea is to let your kids do the experiments themselves. Let them learn independently and come up with their unique ideas. As they would build new things on their own, they would become more curious and eager to learn. We hope that this article could help you understand the importance of electronics learning for kids. At The Real School Of Montessori, we believe in project-based learning through personalised mentorship, which would help your kid understand the crux of the concept. You can visit our website to know more.
Also Read: Best Online Classes for Kids: A Guide to Choosing the Best Education for Your Little Ones
