With pressure mounting due to gradual depletion of non-renewable resources, people are increasingly looking towards renewable energy sources such as solar energy. However, another novel use of solar energy involves solar toys. Solar energy is expected to play a major role in children’s future and is a fun way of introducing children to solar electricity kits. Some solar toys are educational in nature. For example, some solar educational toys allow children to use solar cells to construct and customize a wide variety of machines. These kits make excellent gifts for occasions such as birthdays and Christmas and do not need batteries to run, unlike many other toys in the market. Some solar learning toys also allow children to use the small solar cells to create electricity and hence power simple mechanical objects, thus increasing their curiosity and eagerness to learn.

These Solar Educational Toys usually come equipped with educational manuals that shed further light on the concept of solar energy as well as photovoltaic cells. Some kits even come with lesson plans which can help increase a child`s grasp of science, enabling him/her to use it in school science projects. Another fun area where solar energy can be applied to toys is Toy Robots. Generally, toy robots come with solar receivers, which capture sunlight and come into life, doing simple tasks such as walking.

Parents should take note of the fact that some of the mechanical objects are very light and hence may be easily broken by children, hence supervision during playing time is recommended. There are even solar toys that allow the construction of miniature solar homes and even solar windmills although it should be noted that windmills are powered by wind, as opposed to solar energy. Most of these solar toys are designed keeping in mind children of age 8 years and older.