If you don’t know who EMSL are, you’re missing out. Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories is a small family owned DIY electronics business in the California Bay Area with a deep enduring commitment and support for open source software, open source hardware, educators, and Makers.
And they are genuinely good people. Their blog is an incredible resource for anyone from beginners in crafts and electronics to grizzled veteran engineers. There are free tutorials, resources, and tons of kits for every level. I’ve purchased several of their kits and cannot recommend their products highly enough for the material quality, comprehensive (and occasionally playful) instructional materials, and support – including a robust community and forum.1
Since our family is home an awful lot these days, we’re always looking ways to keep our kids curious, engaged, and occupied. Our next project is the EMSL “BristleBot.”2
Their write up and video tutorial will provide you with all the information you need to help build a very tiny zippy robot from things you probably have around the house. 3 There’s a lot to talk about with your kids here – from basic electrical connections, off-center motors, springiness of the bristles, to how the directions of bristles affect the robot’s travel.
A box of parts to make enough for a whole classroom might be about $50 (or less) if you could buy parts in bulk. But, if you only need a handful of BristleBots for your household, you could taking things apart for motors, old toothbrushes for bristles, common coin cell batteries for free/nearly free, maybe adding some matchbox car or marble run tracks for BristleBot trails or a cardboard box for a battle arena.