The blog
Explainers, games and teaching ideas: logic gates and the adder explained simply, puzzles to solve as a family, an escape game birthday party, a lesson plan for the classroom, gift ideas, and what our pictures really show. They are written by the Wire & Gate team, with the help of AI tools.
The articles
Gift ideas for curious kids: logic, puzzles and jigsaws
Puzzle books, brain-teasers, deduction games, jigsaws, electronics kits: gift ideas for children who love working things out, with our products among others.
Learning logic without screens: 5 activities to print
Five paper-based activities to discover logic and AND, OR and NOT gates at home or in class, three of them free to make yourself.
The nebulae in our jigsaws: what the NASA photos really show
The 4 nebula photos in our gallery: what they show, which telescope took them, what their colours mean, and what we retouched.
The adder explained simply: from the XOR gate to binary addition
How a computer adds up with logic gates: counting in binary, the XOR gate for the sum, the AND gate for the carry, then the full adder.
How to run an escape game birthday party for 8- to 12-year-olds
An escape game at home for an 8- to 12-year-old's birthday: which kit for which age, how many teams, a timed plan, decorations and the game master's job.
10 little logic puzzles to solve as a family
Ten logic puzzles to solve together, from easy to fiendish, including three with AND, OR and NOT gates. The answers are at the end.
From circuits to code: what logic gates teach you before programming
A condition in a program is a logic gate written as text. What AND, OR, NOT and XOR gates teach you before you write your first line of code.
How we make our pictures: local AI, sorting by hand, what we turn down
Our jigsaw pictures are AI-generated on our own computer, then rated one by one. The hardware, the sorting, what we reject and what we do not promise.
Teachers: a one-hour lesson on AND and OR gates with the site
A timed one-hour lesson plan to introduce AND and OR gates, using the free Learn pages projected on the board and students working in pairs.
Set up an escape game at home in one hour with a printable kit
Print, cut, hide, play: how to set up a 45- to 60-minute escape game at home in ten minutes, for 2 to 6 players, with a printable kit.
Why a jigsaw puzzle is relaxing (and how we chose ours)
A jigsaw keeps your hands and attention busy without rushing you. What makes it calming, and how we chose and sorted the 147 pictures in our gallery.
Logic gates explained to a 10-year-old
AND, OR, NOT: the three little rules that make computers work, explained to a child with a lamp, two switches and examples from home.
Practical guides
Three guides to get going: the gates one by one, an escape game at home, and where to start.
Logic gates explained simply: AND, OR, NOT and XOR
AND, OR, NOT and XOR explained with everyday examples, a diagram and a truth table for each gate, and a free circuit to play for every one.
How to run a printable escape game at home
Printing on A4, timing, ages, the game master's job and what to do when a team gets stuck: a guide to running a printable escape game at home.
Learning logic through play: where to start
Where to start when you learn logic through play: the 10 free circuits, the daily challenge, the lessons and Bit's Journey, in order.