hey Joe:
There are a few cheap LED projects here:
https://allelectronics.com/index.php?page=seek&id[m]=pattern&id[q]=kits&x=0&y=0
Also Ramsey Electronics has some as well.
**broken link removed** I just searched for LED. Usually on the website, the manual is missing the schematic, but the actual kit has the schematic included.
Both companies are easy to deal with.
I'm not necessarily suggesting this
https://www.xump.com/science/130ElectronicsKit.cfm?SID=54 kit, but a kit like this allows one to build a number of projects/ I had something similar when I was a kid. The big springs are easy to attach wires to.
Breadboards
https://www.radioshack.com/product/...gclid=CPDh5ISj8rkCFQecKgodkTQAAA&gclsrc=ds.ds are ways of prototyping circuits as well.
They get to be a royal, pain sometimes. Now with the DIP package being obsolete the breadboard gets harder to use.
Now, it MAY be possible to teach some digital logic stuff. Something like use a Spice simulator (What Alec has been drawing and simulating your pump stuff with) and then build the circuit, but you will have to learn too. Logic gates aren't that hard.
Maybe even try some microcontroller programming. e.g.
**broken link removed**
Building a kit is definate a challenge. The Heathkit and the Eico kits are long gone.
The real way to learn is to have a project. In EE courses, you don't even get to pick up a soldering iron.