The Solar Powered Lunar Car is a complex model that will move across a flat surface once assembled correctly. The model comes in multiple parts to construct which helps educate children on a multitude of things, like gear box operation, motor operation and the potential of solar power.

The Solar Powered Lunar Car Kit is constructed from balsa wood pieces which come on a pre cut board, needing to be pressed out and pieced together. The kit contains the parts needed for making the model work and complex instructions. The model is not simple to construct but has detailed instructions with illustrations to help you arrange over 100 parts into a working model. Through making the model you can learn about how motors and automatic transmissions work, how a gear box is constructed and how it operates, how the wiring goes together to connect everything and how the solar energy is taken and converted into electrical energy that the motor can use to operate the model.

The Solar Powered Lunar Car is a great educational model, helping children to learn through play on a multitude of areas. Because of its complexity though adult assistance will be required, also to construct the model you will need a screwdriver, long nose pliers, a sharp knife and sandpaper to help smooth the pieces. The model can be run from a battery instead of solar power, but requires you to provide this AA battery.

The Lunar Car costs just £19.12 plus delivery.

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the Lunar Car – Solar Powered Robot Kit article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

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This Solar Powered Racer is a great way to educate children through play. It effectively demonstrates the abilities of solar panels in converting sunlight into electrical energy, this energy is then used to power a motor which causes the racer to race along. The Racer then shows a child how sunlight can be turned into movement.

The Solar Powered Racer has been created by Science Time as an educational toy to show how solar power can help provide the world with clean, free energy. The racer kit comes with detailed instructions for constructing the toy, which detail how the 8 parts it comes in are easily fitted together. The racer kit is suitable for children aged 8+, though this seems mainly down to the smaller parts in construction, younger children may enjoy watching the toy race once it has been constructed under adult supervision.

The Solar Powered Racer once constructed requires only light to work, this can be provided by direct sunlight or a bright indoor light bulb (though for educational purposes using sunlight would be best). This toy should provide a child with hours of enjoyment from constructing the racer to watching it work.

The solar racer is available for just £7.45 plus delivery.

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The Solar Powered Bottle Boat kit contains the basic equipment required to transform a plastic bottle into a solar powered boat, just supply your own plastic bottle. The kit comes with an instruction book that gives the instructions to create three different boats: a surface submarine, a speed boat and an air boat. The kit can also be used in other ways, allowing some inventiveness with bottles and the equipment to create a powered boat.

The Solar Powered Bottle Boat kit is designed to help educate children about the alternative energy source of solar power. It also makes a great toy to play with that also allows you to ‘recycle’ a plastic bottle and learn about hydrodynamics by experimenting to find the best shape for a fast vessel.

The kit contains a 0.5 watt waterproof solar panel (measuring 10.8 cm x 4.1 cm ( 4.25 in x 1.63 in.)). This panel powers the motor that is included in the kit and comes with the wires needed to attach it. The motor is then attached to the water or air propeller (both included). The kit also contains other basic parts needed to connect the components to a plastic bottle, 63.5cm (25in) of mounting tape, two 12.7cm (5 in) metal shafts, and 2 wire nuts. 

It does suggest using electrical tape and paint to decorate the vessels which you would need to provide yourself. Once created the boat will need direct sunlight (or a powerful light source) and a body of water to operate.

The solar-powered boat kit is costs just $24.95 from Spheral Solar.

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the Solar Powered Bottle Boat Kit article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

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The Frightened Grasshopper is a little solar powered toy bug that moves around mimicking a real grasshopper. It is a life size model of a grasshopper that you construct yourself. Once built it will shiver or bounce around while under light.

This solar powered toy is meant to help educate children about solar power.  By constructing the model themselves, the child will have a greater connection to this little bug toy, and through watching it once constructed they should see an effective demonstration of how the power of the sun is harnessed by the solar panel (PV cell) and converted into electrical energy.

That electrical power is then used by a motor within the bug to move the toy around on the surface it has been placed on.  The toy bug works well in direct sunlight, but if that is not possible it should work well directly under a  non-florescent light bulb.

The Frightened Grasshopper is meant for ages 10+. The toy is designed to be suitable as a first time science project to help teach children about alternative forms of energy. Available from Amazon for $14.49.

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the Frightened Grasshopper – Solar Powered Bug Toy article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

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The Flexy reminds you of the simple joy cardboard can bring.  Shaped and pieced together from cardboard, it is designed to work like the famous metal slinky.

Made out of recycled materials this biodegradable toy is said to do all that its metal counterpart can, but with the obvious benefit of decomposing when everyone has finally had enough.  The Flexy will then happily ‘walk’ down your stairs (though wont make that jingle jangle slinky does) and comes with instructions to make it move in many different ways from flinging to a rippling rainbow, it can even be moved into place to create many different sculptures.

The Flexy is not quite as compact as its metal counterpart measuring  11.5cm x 10cm x 7.5cm (4.5in x 4in x 3in) closed up and 25.5cm x 10cm x 7.5cm (10in x 4in x 3in) opened out fully, though it should hopefully not tangle up like a metal spring likes to do.  Though it claims to do all its metal counterpart can do I am not sure how well it could be used in science classrooms to show easily the difference between light waves and sound waves, but it is certainly a more environmentally friendly way of laughing at something falling down the stairs!

Source: Craziest Gadgets

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The Solar-Powered Wooden Biplane Model is an example of the power that modern solar panels have. The Biplane comes in kit form to be constructed and features a working propeller that is powered by solar panels on the top of its wings.

Due to the precision of the laser cutting used to shape the ply wood pieces the model is easily put together. The Biplane requires no glue as the wooden pieces slot together as shown in the detailed instructions provided. The ease of construction means the Solar-Powered Wooden Biplane Model is suitable for ages 6 and up.

Measuring 21cm x 19.5cm x 8.5cm (8.3in. x 7.7in. x 3.3in.) and weighing 200g the model is small enough to be placed on a desk or shelf as an ornament. The small solar panels on the Solar-Powered Biplane Model are powerful enough to work even under lamplight. The Biplane then effectively demonstrates just how well modern solar panels convert light into electrical energy as the light source turns the propeller on the model.

The Solar-Powered Wooden Biplane Model is a great way to get children into the joys of solar power. Being able to build the kit helps to involve them in the whole process, adding to the joy of the propeller turning. Of course many adults too will enjoy this model, just watch out for your fingers with the propeller! It’s just a shame that it doesn’t fly too.

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the Wooden Model Biplane With Solar-Powered Propeller article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

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The Solar-Powered Garden Insect Theatre combines a solar-powered light with a sustainable insect habitat to attract insects into your garden and the insect theatre itself. During the day, the solar panel charges up the internal battery. At night, the theatre lights up, attracting a range of insects such as moths, lacewings and butterflies. When dawn comes along, the internal light automatically switches off, and the batteries are charged up again.

The insects are able to get into the insect theatre through the holes in the side, the louvres and around the edges of the wide door. This means that the insects are not trapped, and they can enter or exit at any time. You can insert branches, leaves and other plant material through the trapdoor at the base of the unit. To encourage insects into the unit, you just need to mount it in a warm, dry and slightly shady area.

The insect theatre is perfect for adults and children as a fascinating way to encourage insects into the garden. The insect theatre is made from sustainably grown timber, and treated with an environmentally safe wood preserving agent.

The outside dimensions of the box measures 205mm x 170mm x32mm, and prices start at around £29 (or $47 US).

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the Solar-Powered Garden Insect Theatre article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

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The World’s Smallest Solar Powered Racing Car is basically a tiny racing car powered exclusively by solar energy. Using a tiny solar panel, the car moves along any smooth flat surface using it’s tiny electric motor. Just shine a bright light on the car, or put it into sunlight to get it to move.

The solar car only measures 33mm x 22mm x 14mm, which is really small. The car is not remote controlled or anything like that, so it’s very much a novelty toy car gadget. The car comes pre-assembled, so there is no fiddly pieces to put together. However, I think any child will quickly get bored of it, as all it does is move forward when there’s a little light. There’s very little interactivity with the car.

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We love eco gadgets for kids here at EnviroGadget, probably because we’re kids at heart. The latest educational eco toy for children is the Solar and Windup Powered Dinosaur Kit. The kit features a walking dinosaur with a solar panel and a wind up crank that provides the toy with all the energy it needs.

The kit comes with all of the parts needed to construct the dinosaur, and batteries are not required! If you’re in the UK, there might not be a lot of sun to power the solar panel, so it’s handy that the toy can be powered by a hand-powered dynamo instead. The kids can also learn about the relative efficiency of each power source, especially as they’ll find that the hand crank is much quicker at charging the internal rechargeable battery.

The kit has been designed for children aged 8 or older, and is priced at just £12.99.

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the Solar and Windup Powered Dinosaur Kit article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

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The H2Go Radio Controlled Hydrogen Powered Car is probably one of the most advanced eco and educational toys you’ll ever see for children. Basically the car is powered using hydrogen gas, and can reach speeds of up to 6 miles an hour (which is a scale speed equivalent to 80mph!).

The H2Go kit includes a hydrogen fuel station that is used to transfer the hydrogen to the car itself. The solar panel is used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen via electrolysis to top up the hydrogen fuel in the fueling station. If you’re short on sunlight, you can also use the included AC adapter to top up the fueling station.

The car will run for up to 6 minutes after a single 3.5 minute refueling process. The fueling station gives about an hours worth of hydrogen gas after just 4 minutes of charging, which is quite a lot of energy!

The Hydrogen car is much more expensive than the average eco-friendly toy at $147.95, however, it does use clean and eco-friendly energy and will run for hours on end. And as a further bonus, batteries are not required for the car (although you’ll need them for the remote control).

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the H2Go Radio Controlled Hydrogen Powered Car article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

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