Ahh, science. Here at our house, we are quite comfortable with our geekiness and make an effort to pass it along to the kids. While it’s easy to talk about things like littering while on a walk or the birds that visit the backyard, the subject of energy takes some creativity. The people at OWI have been building solar powered toys since 1980, and their easy to build kit gave us the perfect opportunity to talk about energy sources and renewable vs. non-renewable energy, right in our own kitchen. OWI sent the Five Hens a Robotikit 6 in 1 Educational Solar Kit (retail price $19.95) to try out, and the Little Red family was lucky enough to play with it.

The kit is designed for kids ages 10 and up, but in our house we have a 6 year old and a 3 year old, so we did more of the building than would be necessary with older kids. When you first open the 6 in 1 Educational Solar Kit, you’ll find a lot of pieces, mostly plastic, that you have to cut apart. The box states “no tools required” which is true, but separating the pieces was a lot easier with wire cutters. The plastic parts are well made and fit together nicely. It was a bit of a surprise to find that you have to assemble the main components (gearbox and solar cell pod) before you can build the various toys. (If you are doing this with young children, put them together before the kids join you- it will save time and keep them from driving you crazy while you do stuff they can’t help with.) Once you have those two things done and all your pieces separated, you can get to work on the toys! The directions are almost completely illustrated and very easy to follow, and once you get the hang of it the creations go together pretty quickly.

Once we had one built (the Solar Revolving Plane- a prop driven plane on one side of a pillar and a solar cell and counter weight on the other- was our first), we put it by the window to make it go, and… nothing. We had unwisely decided to try this toy during the first snowstorm of the season, so the sky was very overcast. But in the directions it says that you need a sunny day OR a 100 Watt or greater halogen light. We pulled a garage work light inside, shined it on the cell, and voila, we had a working solar toy!

Now you may be picturing a little plane slowly revolving around a pillar, but let me tell you, this thing really goes! The kids squealed with laughter as it zipped around in circles, then quickly slowed down as soon as the light was removed. The Solar Car zoomed around the kitchen floor (not so fast that it would get away from you outside, but your kids would have to hustle), stopping only when we ran out of cord for our light. The Solar Airboat was a favorite, as we put it in a pan of water to watch it go. Our kids really liked the Solar Windmill (which surprised us a bit) and tried it with all the various propellors as well as the windmill blades. They had fun predicting what would happen with the different sized blades, and then testing their theories. (Welcome to the Scientific Process, my children.) And once they were comfortable with the kit, they were able to help with the building, which involved them even more. And we did “Parent Tests”: we all stuck our hands in the spinning blades (it doesn’t hurt or cause injury, and even my 3 year old laughed at it) and I grabbed the wires (which are exposed) with no effect (the toy runs at 1.2 volts, according to the manufacturer). The only one we had any trouble building was the Solar Puppy: you have to get the wires through little holes in a small space, making them tricky to loop through and connect. One complaint: the wires frayed out at the ends, so we had to keep twisting them to connect them. If there was a solid, crimped-on end or the wire strands were soldered together, assembly would be a bit easier.

The 6 in 1 Educational Solar Kit is a fun gizmo that teaches kids about solar energy as well as basic mechanical assembly. A 10 year old would be able to do most of it alone, but even for the younger set it’s fun and provides a lot of discussion opportunities. The company offers several solar kits as well as robotic building kits for beginner builders through advanced, which require some soldering experience (and makes Little Red Hen’s Rooster say “sweeeeeet”). We know that using a 300 watt Halogen light to play with a green energy educational toy is pretty hypocritical, but the toy is lots of fun and we will try it out in the sun as soon as we get a chance!

Golden Egg Rating

Overall, we give the 6 in 1 Educational Kit 5 out of 5 Golden Eggs.  It’s educational, a great hands on example of solar energy at work, and it’s an awful lot of fun.  It’s also reasonably priced, which certainly helps.  And it uses exactly zero batteries, which is always a plus in our house.