Electric Pencil Sharpener
Sharpen some pencils — and your engineering skills — with a pencil sharpener you build yourself! Construct the core, add the battery, and wire your mechanism up. Then learn about the invention of pencils, the evolution of sharpener design, and hidden engineering features that help your sharpener work smarter!
Why it’s awesome
Auto-on switch
Build a circuit that turns on with the press of a pencil.
Desk display
Case and tube are designed to show off the mechanism.
Sketch to invent
Designer’s notebook, pencils, and invention inspirations.
What’s included?

Topics explored
Electronics
Engineering + design
Creativity + invention
From the desk of the product designer:
Behind the design
“What do innovators, inventors, artists, and engineers have in common? All their ideas start with pencil and paper. With this pencil sharpener and holder combo, you'll always have a pencil handy too for your next great idea.”
- KiwiCo Product Designer
By the numbers
1
Motor's gear ratio
7
Trigger switches tested
4
Exclusive Eureka pencils in this crate
Reviews
4.9
34 reviews
Customer images

Fatima
07/22/2024
I was a bit concerned when I saw the age was for 14+. However, my 9 year old grandson loved making this sharpener with supervision. The instructions are very clear and easy to follow. A great gift for any curious child.

Tina
04/15/2024
This is hands down the coolest project ever!!

nellekay
05/29/2023
My grandson loved putting this together and then sharing it with his class at school. He is ten.

Jenifer
03/03/2023
Did not give any challenge to put together

D&B Mom
01/06/2023
This is such an awesome and useful kit. But to be honest, the first kit didn’t turn on despite double and triple checking the connections. Kiwi was very quick to provide replacement motor/battery pack/wires (we reused the bulk of the original parts). It worked great the second time around.

Gina
12/30/2022
This was a little complicated, very cool and very practical. Perfect for my pre-teen!
Added