Generally with Sticky or Not, I analyze one particularly quirky or unique gadget — but this week is a little different.
Rather than look at one single gadget, this week I’m focusing on a service that offers you one every month. The only catch is, you have to make it yourself.
Kitables, a 2.5 year old startup in Boulder, Colorado, offers DIY kits for making things like a Lego drone or portable solar USB charger and has now decided to launch a monthly subscription service over Kickstarter with all new kits.
Kitables says they aim to help new makers build their confidence by starting them off with small, doable but fun projects before they move on to start creating on a larger scale.
Some of the kits builders can expect in the monthly subscription include a Bluetooth speaker, electronic Rubik’s Cube solver and make-your-own ukulele. As the ukulele indicates, not all the kits will be electronics focused — some may offer cooking, woodworking or planting challenges — but the company’s library of current Kitables suggests many will be gadgets.
Currently, Canadians can get one kit for $71 CAD, a three-month plan for $151, a six-month plan for $271 and a 12-month plan for $501, with an estimated beginning delivery date of October 2017. Even better, Kitables has a good history of hitting estimated dates from its first Kickstarter campaign for the individual kits.
Verdict: Sticky!
This subscription sounds like an ideal bonding tool for kids and parents, or just a great reminder to set aside a little time every month and use your hands to create something in the physical world.
Yes, the price is a bit steep — but considering the fact that you’ll get many hours of educational fun out of making the kits followed by a lasting residual enjoyment of the result, it seems more than reasonable to me.
Meanwhile, this Kickstarter has inspired me to try making something this weekend. If the malformed felt penguin I recently made for a friend’s birthday is any indication, it’ll probably be a failure that causes me to stab through my finger with a felting needle, but oh well — it’s the process that counts.
Note: This post is part of an ongoing series titled Sticky or Not in which Senior Reporter Rose Behar analyzes new and often bizarre gadgets, rating them sticky (good) or not (bad).
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