MERG provide a couple of kits intended to be used as practice for surface mount soldering. This is my second go at this, and the first working attempt:
My first attempt failed because I wasn’t familiar with how pin 1 on the IC was identified. I now know it is the chamfer along one side. My first attempt had the IC the other way round, and rapidly burned out without flashing the LEDs, as this circuit is designed to do. For a £3.60 kit, it seemed like a good value way to learn the lesson. The instructions did explain all this, but somehow it still didn’t sink in without the practical lesson!