Lego Mindstorms or Master Builder Academy?

[Shelsi]

Ds, 8, plays legos pretty much all day long. He loves making his own creations and also enjoys following the books (dh has been organized since the day he was born and still had all his lego manuals, in alphabetical order, from the 70's & 80's that he now gave to ds).

 

He also enjoys his Snap Circuits and electronic things in general. He loves science and math and next year he'll be able to do First Lego League here (there is not a Jr. one nearby).

 

I can't decide which ds would like more: the master builder academy kits or lego mindstorms? If I add up all the money for the MBA it's about the same price as Mindstorms.

 

What exactly do the MBA kits show them? Is it anything they can't or wouldn't learn from years of putting together their own legos?

[Arcadia]

I have seen the first three sets (box and contents) of the MBA at a Lego event and I would not spend that much money. My boys saw the sets and while interested rather spend their allowance on other Lego sets. Our Lego stores carry the MBA sets.

 

FLL does not have a hard and fast rule about minimum age for FLL, however registration is already closed.

If your son might be interested in entering for FLL than he would be able to use the mindstorm as a backup to the FLL competition kit. The cost for the FLL competition kit and registration fee is quite high though.

 

My boys has been eyeing the Mindstorm for almost a year. We went to watch the FLL regional competition. They are not sure whether they would like to participate in the competition next time but we will go and watch next year's regionals if it is near enough. We just ordered the Mindstorm and hopefully we would get it by christmas.

[FairProspects]

We've done both and they are totally different styles. MBA is pretty much just Lego sets with a theme, and that theme may be a building technique or it may be something like "airplanes". It is fun, but I don't see any special skills you can't get from other Lego sets there. We tend to just get it from grandparents as a birthday present.

 

Mindstorms is robotics & programming and is much more about engineering and design. Does he want to build robots? Some kids like building with bricks, and some want to do robots and both are great building skills, just different. The Mindstorm will gather dust if he is not interested in robotics, so MBA might be a better choice in that case.

[Shelsi]

Well he's never done any robotic stuff but he loves electronics & I think he would like robotic things. Will he need a lot of help from me? He's not very computer literate yet. He's actually getting a computer in a few weeks but hasn't had one to use regularly.

[FairProspects]

He will need help from somewhere, either a class, a book, or you. There is a good intro book if he is more of an autodiadect, otherwise someone will have to show him how to program. There are a few models in the original instructions, lots more in some books, and tons online, but he will have to learn how to use the programming. It is drag and drop, but they need to know things like loops.

[threedogfarm]

He will need help from somewhere, either a class, a book, or you. There is a good intro book if he is more of an autodiadect, otherwise someone will have to show him how to program. There are a few models in the original instructions, lots more in some books, and tons online, but he will have to learn how to use the programming. It is drag and drop, but they need to know things like loops.

 

 

What book should we get? Thanks in advance!

[FairProspects]

We found this book to be the best intro guide.

[Shelsi]

We found this book to be the best intro guide.

 

Awesome, I just bought that one last night along with ordering Mindstorms. I figure ds and I can figure it out together. I have an aptitude for electronic/robotic/engineering type things but was never given any education in those basics so ds & I have been learning at the same time.