Thames & Kosmos Wind Power 2.0

Product Description

First you build the wind-powered generators. Then the wind spins the turbines. Then the turbines turn an electric generator. Then the electric generator charges some rechargeable AA batteries. And then--then!--you use... [Read more]

Features

• Build wind-powered generators to energize your electric vehicles and charge your rechargeable batteries!
• Models include: a 3-foot tall long-bladed turbine, short-bladed turbine, glider, motorcycle, jet car, tractor, race car, and sail car.
• Includes two styles of wind turbine blades and a gearbox with three different gear ratios for experimenting.
• A 36-page, full-color manual guides model building with step-by-step assembly instructions.
• Learn all about renewable energy!

Top Reviews

My son and daughter had a great time putting this together
by Amazon Customer (5 out of 5 stars)
November 11, 2015

This thing is a blast. My son and daughter had a great time putting this together. Obviously, for a plastic framed 'experiment' toy, that snaps together like K'nex, it's not the most durable thing ever made. Doesn't need to be. It does require a fairly stiff breeze to get the turbine spinning at the higher gear ratios, but everything works, and the kids are very impressed with it. I had almost as much fun as they did playing with it, and we are playing with ways to make it charge a USB battery pack to then charge their tablets. Just for the sake of doing it.
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Come On!!! This is just to cool for kids to learn!
by MSanta (5 out of 5 stars)
January 26, 2017

My nephews LOVED this!!!! Got it for them as a Christmas gift as I'm really into renewable energy and the environment! I thought this be a super gift to get my young nephews ages 5 & 8 brains thinking about wind power & all the beauty of it naturally. How to build and how it all works. They are loving it and kept interested for hours at a time building and rediscovering other inventions.
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Too hard to asseble and to flexible
by Greview (2 out of 5 stars)
May 9, 2019

I rarely write negative review but put this together with my niece and nephew who are lego experts and they could not do themseleves ... The Transmission is a TERRIBLE idea, If I did not know how a transmission works I could not have put it together from their instrcutions (which we needed a magnifying glass to read) Also the transmission slipped in all but one gear.. ....

Also you need a FAN to drive it, a 10MPH wind did nothing.....

It will frustrate you and your kid.. skip it..

Great Idea ... lousy execution,
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We are buying them all...
by Dana Hoffman (5 out of 5 stars)
January 9, 2014

My son is a born engineer. In his preschool years I would dread garbage day because he would invariably sneak outside and riffle through everyone's recycling bins for 'this awesome thing!' so that he could break it down and us it to build an even more 'awesome thing'. He hasn't changed at all so it was a no brainer that he would like this set. Understatement; he loved it! We will be buying them all for future gift giving.

On a product quality note, this is very sturdy stock. In the two weeks he has owned the set he has 'rebuilt and improved' this turbine about 37 times. I have no doubt that it will stand the test of time (as well as the ever curious 10yo engineer's mind).
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Love this project :)
by Lacey (5 out of 5 stars)
September 18, 2019

We started a family STEM night in our house and we absolutely loved this project. The only con is you have to take the wind turbine apart to build the toy. So wishing we would have bought two. Other than that it is a really fun hands on way to learn.
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Creative kit -great for exploring how wind turbines work.
by Jack (5 out of 5 stars)
November 14, 2012

I bought this for my 5.5 yr old son, my husband, and I. We all enjoy exploring alternative energy. We already had the Air + Water kit, so we were somewhat familiar with the connectors.

Pros:
-the tools included help a lot. Our son finds the pliers very helpful when putting the little red pieces in. (Not the intended purpose, but just as useful)
-the turbine is of decent size (around 3 ft. tall)
-it has multiple gear ratios to experiment with
-the book includes tips, ideas, and some basics about wind, turbines, generators, motors, and such
-once bored with the wind turbine, it can be disassembled and built into something new
-it's a sturdy kit -the connectors fit together quite well
-good quality

Cons:
-the pictures are tiny
-nearly impossible to get the turbine to charge a battery, as suggested.
-some of the pieces like to pop loose when switching gears on the turbine
-it takes a lot of wind to light the LED outside

It was easy for my husband to assemble. It took around 20-30 minutes at slow/average pace.

Our son still requires help with figuring out which holes to put things in. The pictures are very small. So, it's not so easy for him to figure out alone. However, he was able to assemble the glider with minimal assistance. He had no problems disassembling the turbine on his own. The tools really seemed to help a lot.

As suggested, we tried the turbine with some stand fans. We had to put it on the easiest gear in order to get the blades to move at all. Of course, on the easiest gear, it does not produce enough electricity to power the LED. So, that was a bit disappointing.

Outside with a light wind, it would move on the easiest gear, but not on the medium gear. We finally had the chance to try it on a moderately windy day and did get it to move on the middle gear. The light came on intermittently. Yay!

Some things that our son enjoyed exploring with this kit were:
-Impact of gear sizes on resistance and energy output
-Impact of fan location on turbine (fan height and distance)
-Importance of turbine location outside (the turbine barely worked up against our house, but worked great three feet to the side)
-Blade angle and turbine angle
-How a motor can be used as a generator

Overall, I would highly recommend this kit. This kit has been a lot of fun for our family and I would definitely purchase this again. If you are looking for another great alternative energy kit, I also recommend Snap Circuits Green - Alternative Energy Kit.
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great toy
by Seaworldman (5 out of 5 stars)
June 13, 2015

Item was new and genuine. It was boxed well and it arrived in less than 4 days. There was no damage and my son loves to vuild the different designs. Fyi it is hard to assemble and take apart the pieces because it has tight connections. After a couple of assembles the connections get looser so it is easier to connect and break apart. You will need to help your child the first couple of times if they are less than 9 years old
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Budding engineers dream!
by Claire S. (5 out of 5 stars)
February 1, 2016

This was a Christmas gift for our 12 year old son. He was so excited to unwrap and find this kit and it has not disappointed him yet. He has built and rebuilt and changed the configurations multiple times and it has held up to his engineering and enthusiasm of siblings. Very well made product and we will definitely being looking at other kits by this manufacturer in the future.
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Oh my goodness. This took a 5th grader along ...
by former Iowan (2 out of 5 stars)
June 1, 2018

Oh my goodness. This took a 5th grader along with 2 adults to figure out!

Needless to say, the straight A 5th grader left the adults to finish this project!
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Great little piece of hardware.
by james (5 out of 5 stars)
March 24, 2014

My son used this as the base for a school science project and learned about energy conversion, electricity, power equations, how to use a volt-ohm meter and plotting results. Pretty good deal for ~35 bucks. We had fun as well. He used a CAD program and made new blades for Turbine using stero-lith machine and test his against factory blades and did very well.

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