Tech Will Save Us is one of our favourite toy developers, making fun kits for children to explore the creative side of tech and understand how things are made.
My 7-year-old and I learned about wireless power whilst making some cool accessories for his bike using the Light Racer Kit.
Disclaimer: Tech Will Save Us sent us a Light Race Kit to review. Our opinions are always our own.
What's in the Box
The Light Racer Kit is a complete kit with everything you need to make a light-up accessory for your bike. You get a wireless power pack, 3 LEDs, 2 capacitators, wires, 2 casings which you make into the spoke lights and the straps to attach everything to your bike. The kit even includes the batteries.This kit is ready to make and play straight out of the box.
Buy: The Light Racer Kit is available from Tech Will Save Us Online Shop and retails at £24.99 UK | $24.99 US. Tech Will Save Us will ship globally.
Getting Started
The first barrier you hit is getting the instructions. Tech Will Save Us, have moved to digital instructions, which we really like, but it does mean you need to set up a few things first.You need to create a Club Make account to access the instructions. Children can do this and will need to think of a 'makername' (username) and password and provide a date of birth. The registration process requires an adult email address to verify the account.
Tech Will Save Us will send you (the adult) an email with the child's chosen makename and password and ask to verify the account. Make sure you save that somewhere!
- See our reviews and projects with other Tech Will Save Us products.
Club Make
The benefit of the Club Make is that if you have other products from Tech Will Save Us will keep track of your child's progress and they can earn badges. Club Make also provides more challenges and other ideas of what you can make with the kit.
Tech Will Save Us also encourages engagement through online competitions and challenges. Children can share what they have made on the platform. They are also constantly adding content, so it's worth checking back every now and again.
Instructions
Once you have access to the instructions, they are really good to follow. As my son worked through building the bike lights, they explain the technology, the components and how it all works. It's a fantastic learning experience, which my son was really engaged in. I mostly sat next to him observing and even I learned something new.The instructions are very visual, so in essence, the child could follow them without reading, but they would miss out on a lot of learning, as they do provide learning information as you follow through the steps.
Making Experience
This project focuses more on electronics and technology than lots of making. However, working with tiny components like the LEDs and capacitors requires a steady hand. My son needed some support to get the components in the right place, but he was generally able to make everything independently.
Once you've made the lights, you need to attach everything to the bike. There are straps to tighten the power pack to the frame of the bike. The lights fix to the spokes. My son's bike was a different design, so the lights didn't fix exactly like in the tutorial. However, the lights seemed secure enough and didn't come off when he tested it out.
Power
The lights are powered wirelessly, so every time to come close to the power pack they light up. When you're not using it, there is a convenient switch to switch the power off without removing the power pack from your bike.When the batteries run out you can unscrew the front of the power pack and replace with 2 AA batteries without needing to remove the power bank. Good design thinking!
Verdict
The Light Racer Kit is a fun activity kit for children curious about how the technology works. It's very accessible for children from age 6+ but if you want your child to work on it independently they need to be able to follow instructions, read and have good fine motor skills.The Light Racer Kit will make a great birthday or Christmas gift for an 8-year old that loves cycling. The lights work best in the dark (tricky to take a photo of this!) so will provide a good incentive for kids to continue to cycle in the winter.
Buy: The Light Racer Kit is available from Tech Will Save Us Online Shop and retails at £24.99 UK | $24.99 US. Tech Will Save Us will ship globally.
Safety reminder: My kids call me a nag with it comes to bike safety. Remember never to cycle without a helmet and always have proper lights when cycling in the dark. The light racer kit is a fun accessory for your bike but not the proper lights for cycling!
- See our reviews and projects with other Tech Will Save Us products.
