Help with prototyping

This question is so basic that I need to explain why I am asking this to the pros.

Electronics was my passion growing up but did many other things for a career. Now that my children have become independent I have taken the decision to do the things I always wanted to do but did not - like hike the grand canyon, quit my job and travel the world backpacking and of course, create little electronic gadgets.

I am working on a "smart drip irrigation system". I designed the circuit (that was fun given that it is a hobby). But the components I picked are only available in surface mounts and are really tiny.

So here is the question, how do you guys prototype and breadboard components that are only available as surface mounts.

Some of the components I need are;
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/AAT3783AIRN-4.2-T1/863-1462-1-ND/3868794
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/LM27313XMF%2FNOPB/LM27313XMF%2FNOPBCT-ND/1590175
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/CMLDM7484%20TR/CMLDM7484%20CT-ND/4807007

I thought I will try asking the experts. Please help out this newbie. Thanks

Firstly, look for parts that have SOIC, SOT, and TSOT packages with a larger pin spacing, they are readily solderable by hand. You should be able to find these by searching the part suppliers using their search engines. In DigiKey, do a general search, and a number of columns appear, one of them will have the package type which you should select. The first device, the Li-ion charger, is the most difficult, if the tab underneath needs a connection to ground. Try and find other parts that would do the job in a SOIC package. Passive components are generally easy to do but avoid going below 0603. There are small PCBs available which have land patterns that accept different styles of SMD packages, and have a row of pins on either side to convert the board to a DIL package. They are not cheap, and you still have to be able to hand solder the fine pitch part onto it by hand. Some companies, Adafruit, Sparkfun, etc, sell small PCBs with SMD components loaded on them, but what you are looking for is probably a little specialized for there likes. If you have to use the selected parts, then a local company may load a PCB for you, for a one off they load the board by hand using tweezers. I use a stereo microscope, solder paste, and a fine soldering iron to routinely hand solder 0.5mm pitch SOIC and QFN packages, I modify the PCB lands slightly to accommodate the process, I make the QFN slightly longer than the recommended. There are designs around (and commercial products, I think Elektor did one) for homemade reflow ovens, IR or hot plate, look them up on the WWW, that work well for small boards. One thing for sure, you are going to have to do a PCB, so get a design package sorted(Eagle?), and a local company that can make your board if you really need to use those chips. Look up prototyping using SMD, and soldering SMD packages on the WWW, there are Youtube videos, and I seem to recall SparkFun has some as well,
hope that helps, by the way, the travelling sounds more interesting than the electronics,
cheers,
Richard

Thanks Richard,
Lot of great information. For now I am going to try to find alternate chips. Yes, I d d find the videos on sparkfun, they are great. I found an online service for designing the circuit, not sure if you heard of it - easyeda.com. I am using it to create the schematic.
Thanks a lot.
Chandra

https://easyeda.com/ckgollap/Solar_Drip_Irrigation_Control-yDxrJ1jBv

In going the EDA route, choose a package that supplies a good range of schematic parts and footprints. Some component suppliers have partnered or have there own schematic capture and layout packages integrated with their stock range. I believe DigiKey have something, others as well. The biggest investment you make in the EDA package is in the library of parts and footprints,
cheers,
Richard