Mindboards

As a kid I had the exact same 150 in 1 lab that Xander had. This was an excellent set and I loved it!

The current Electronics Lab from Radio Shack is also excellent:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=3814337
This is what my son has and it comes with an impressive selection of components. This is what I would recommend for basic electronics experimenting.

Gus

Wow, it even comes with a book by Forest M Mimms by the looks of it! So cool! I had -all- of his booklets, they were the best!

- Xander

Actually, TWO books by him. It really is a great set. The books are great, the lab has many features, and the kit has a very large selection of parts. You can buy it off eBay for <$40 last I checked.