Circuits can be simplified... enter Little Bits.

Cardboard kitties do cool stuff with Little Bits

I just borrowed a set of Little Bits from the Children's Room tonight to try them out in the hope that we can get some quick traction in electronics without relying on an "expert" or a ringer. Success!

Check out the wonderful TED talk by Little Bits creator, MIT Media Lab alum, Canadian of Lebanese Arab background, Ayah Bdeir, (she got a B.A. from the American University of Beirut before she got her M.A. at the MIT Media Lab). This is a quintessential example of the global brain trust. Plus, she doesn't quite look like the stereotypical engineer...

Ayah Bdeir

Little bits are pre-assembled circuits, held together by magnets, color-coded to make the relationship between Power, Input, Wire, Output. It's that simple, but that's what gives it so much power. It teaches the relationship between components from the get-go.

I'm excited to challenge the teens tomorrow with some building schematics. then, when they figure out how the system works, they can get right down to creating some cool projects!

Just to put icing on the cake, she has registered Little Bits in the Creative Commons, so it is actually considered Open Source.  Now that's cool. Shazam.