Electrical Engineering

Making a Simple Circuit

Making a Simple Circuit on Paper

Use your construction paper to make and decorate a card.

Poke holes in the card for your LEDs. Make sure the long ends of the LEDs are all on one side and tape them together with the copper tape.

Next, tape all the short ends of the LEDs together. You should have 2 vertical tape lines.

Use a copper tape loop to attach the positive side of your battery to the copper tape that is connected to the long ends of the LEDs.

Make a horizontal tape line that connects the battery to the negative copper tape line when the card is closed.

The inside of your card should look something like the diagram on the right. Be sure to pay attention to the long/short ends of the LEDs (red) and put the battery with the positive end down.

CAUTION: Your electromagnet will get hot. Work with an adult on this project.

Wrap a wire (one without clips on the end) around your nail as many times as you can.

Use the rubber band to hold one end of the wire on the positive end of the battery and one end on the negative end.

See if you can pick up a paperclip with your nail!

Follow along with the vibrot instructions below to make an origami rocket. Add the motor and the battery to make a robot that skitters around a table.

If the rocket is too tricky, make a fortune teller instead and add your motor and battery.