Squishy Circuits (2018)

Using battery packs, play-dough, modeling clay, LED lights, motors and speakers; students are taught the fundamentals of electrical circuits. The play-dough is a conductive substance that carries an electrical current, while the modeling clay is an insulator that prevents the flow of electricity. Students are first shown how to create a proper circuit by giving the electricity only one path to flow through, which lights a single LED bulb. They are then shown what happens when you create a short circuit that bypasses the LED bulb, and are shown how to use the non-conductive modeling clay to prevent short circuits between different pieces of play-dough. Students are then tasked to use their creativity to create sculptures using the play-dough and modeling clay, and finally are asked to add lights, speakers and motors to their creation to bring it to life using electrical circuits.

First Session – March 26th, 2018

We had two students for this session. Both students were given the introduction to the program, and each student also created a simple structure with a single LED. For the creative portion of the program one student created a snail with an LED for each eye, and the other student created an octopus that also used an LED for each eye. Finally, the students experimented with using other elements to create fun creations that had lights, sounds and motors.

Second Session – April 2nd, 2018

We had seven students for this session. All of the students were introduced to the program, starting with the simple single LED structure, and then given a chance to create a wide variety of creative structures using the lights, speakers and motors. Some of the students made ‘super’ noise makers by combining several speakers into the same creation, while others used multiple lights and motors to make other fun creations.

Third Session – April 9th, 2018

We had five students for this session. After the introduction to the squishy circuits the students were once again given a chance to create many impressive creations with lights, sounds and movement. The students also experimented with using multiple battery packs.

Fourth Session – April 16th, 2018

There were three students at this session, making this one of our smallest classes of the series. All of the students were repeat students from previous classes who wanted to return and continue to create and experiment with the supplies.

Fifth Session – April 23rd, 2018

We had a total of eight students for this session. They were all super excited about the program, as many of them had heard about it from their friends at school. The students unleashed their creative potential, creating a wide variety of unique projects and even incorporated unusual items like the play-dough containers to create interesting effects with the LED lights.

Sixth Session – April 30th, 2018

There were six students who attended the final session. The students were all given the introduction to the squishy circuits and were taught how to make a simple circuit. As with the other sessions the students then created their own creations from scratch, using all of the available supplies.

Project Conclusion

All of the students enjoyed the program and had fun experimenting with the different elements of the project. Additionally, the students enjoyed learning about basic electrical circuits and electrical concepts, while using nothing more than the elements described above and some basic problem solving.