Form, insert and solder all resistors (one at a time if you're new to kit building)
Trim the excess leads with side cutters or snips. It may be easier to manage if you snip after soldering both ends of each resistor.
Insert and bend over the LEDs so that the bottom of the plastic bulb is just touching the outside edge of the board. IMPORTANT: LEDs are polarized meaning they must be installed in the correct orientation or they will not work. If you look carefully, there should be a flat spot at the base of the bulb and the shorter leg should be on that side. The circuit board has a flat side on the circle for the LED. Match that flat side with the flat side of the bulb or the short leg and insert.
Solder the LEDs (again, not all at once if you're still new to this)
Trim the excess leads with side cutters or snips
Insert the long side of the 5 pin header into the bottom of the board but DO NOT solder yet.
WIth the board bottom side up and the header installed but not soldered, orient the power connector so you can still see the "+ POWER -" and so that the GND on the connector is lined up with the "-" in "+ POWER -". Slide it down on top of the pin header.
The power connector should be on TOP of the board facing you. Solder all 5 pins, but don't allow the solder to bridge between the pins.
Now you can flip over the two boards and solder on top of the white board. Solder all 5 pins and again don't allow the solder to bridge between the pins.
If the power connector is not parallel to the flower board, you can reheat the solder and carefully straighten it.
[OPTIONAL] insert the screws through the top side of the flower board and thread them into the spacers on the bottom. This will give you legs. There are 4 sets of two holes and one hole might be covered by the power connector. You can use the other hole there and then the same hole for the other three sets then your legs should be evenly spaced.
* We threw in some extra resistors and LEDs in case something goes wrong. If not, enjoy the bonus.
Tools
You will need the following that are NOT included in the kit:
Soldering Iron
Solder
Side cutters or snips to cut off excess wire
USB cable with Micro-USB connector and a power source.
Philips (Cross-Head) screwdriver for legs
[OPTIONAL] Solder sucker or desoldering iron or solder wick in case you need to undo some soldering.
[OPTIONAL] Something to clean your iron
Mods
You are mostly just limited by your imagination and the size of the PCB
You can change the resistor values to adjust brightness. However, too high with the color changing LEDs might mean some colors are not as bright as others. Too low and you might be overpowering the LEDs and burn them out.
You can point the LEDs straight up instead of bending them over
You could change the LEDs to a solid color for a colored light source
You could change the LEDs to blinking LEDs for a computer like random blinking circle
The Tower of Flower is 4 of these kits plus a couple more connectors and hardware. The connectors allow power to get to each board as they are stacked. The hardware secures everything in place. The boards are all rotated 15 degrees from the one below (the extra holes around the perimiter) and the top board is any set of colors you want to cap it off.
Alternate power source: You could wire directly to the "+" and "-". This kit was designed for a 5V power source. If you use something different, adjust the resistor values accordingly.
The circuit board traces are good to about 750mA. Keep that in mind if you are powering anything else After this board.
The two pin connectors near the edge and between LED 8 and LED 1 are pass through power. Negative (Ground) is closer to the edge.