Many people find it easiest to learn things by doing them. If you’re looking to give a doer in your life an interesting, hands-on project, check out these tech-focused DIY kits:
DIY AT-AT Cable Organizer & Card Case ($32.99)
With this kit, you get to put together a wooden replica of an AT-AT that keeps cables, pens, and other desktop detritus organized. And it’s legs are totally posable to let you re-create the battle on Hoth.
CanaKit Raspberry Pi 3 Complete Starter Kit ($69.99)
To set up a Raspberry Pi computer as quickly as possible, this Complete Starter Kit includes a MicroSD card preloaded with the aptly-named NOOBS OS, and all the hardware you need to boot it up.
The Complete Raspberry Pi 3 Training Bundle ($19)
The Raspberry Pi is capable of so much more than emulating old video games. You can learn how to use it for penetration testing, robotics, distributed computing, and internet-of-things devices with this course bundle.
TinyTesla Musical Tesla Coil Kit ($197)
You can build a singing Tesla coil, also known as a zeusaphone, with this kit. By controlling your plasma speaker from a laptop or midi source, you can put on quite an electrifying performance.
Extpro DIY Assemble Toy Set Solar Powered Car Kit ($10.95)
You and your kids can get excited about robotics and renewable energy together with this homemade Solar Powered Car kit. This project is best for ages six and up.
SunFounder Raspberry Pi Robot Kits ($149.99)
For a much more advanced electronic car project, this Raspberry Pi Kit will have you building a 4-wheeled robot. You’ll learn Python to program its camera and movements, or you can drive it in real time with an external device.
littleBits Electronics Synth Kit ($112.94)
The littleBits analog synthesizer modules can be combined to make some truly amazing sounds. They snap together magnetically, so you can try out different arrangements without needing a mess of patch cables.
If you’ve got a little one that’s itching to learn about programming, electronics, and robots, they can do it all with this mBot Kit. After putting it together, they’ll learn to control their robot’s Arduino brain with the Scratch graphical coding environment.