Handling small, delicate parts is the other electronics skill that must be mastered. The Component Casualty Rate is one of the hidden secrets (and costs) of learning electronics. This kit is the stuff that often gets lost, broken, burnt up, or you forgot/didn't know to order in the first place. The free-with-order offer shows Sparkfun loves those who are making the effort to learn. They want you to succeed now and go on to build really, really cool stuff. There are fewer days of Summer remaining than you realize, so equip yourself for completions and success.

This kit consists of the Capacitor Kit, Discrete Kit, jumper wires, mini breadboard, 3 LEDs and a few diodes. For those (like me) who were hoping that the free "Small Parts Kit" would turn out to be the SF Beginner Kit, the basic difference is this kit has greater quantities with less variety. You get almost triple the number of capacitors (including 10 of the 1000uF, of which the Beginner Kit has none), 7 times the number of transistors (including 20 MOSFETS lacking from the Beginner Kit), and 5 times the number of diodes. For that you give up the photocell, 555 timer, op amps, push buttons, switches, headers, 7-segment display and the parts box. For me personally, I'd rather have the beginner's kit, since I already have the capacitor kit and am lacking in the random buttons and switches department, but at current prices it's a $24.35 value and I'm getting it for free so I guess I can't complain.

That's a lot of markup. You can buy all the parts in the small parts kit, in single unit quantities, for about $11 over at Tayda. And the Tayda stock is apparently not limited like it is here, you can get as many as you want.