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Can you complete an LED circuit using a graphite pencil? Learn about the conductive properties of graphite and draw your own design to see it light up!

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Use your graphite pencil and draw any design on your paper. Tip: Draw a simple image where all the lines are connected and make sure to create thick, bold lines with your pencil.

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In your drawing, leave at least a 1 cm gap on opposite ends of your drawing. Mark your positive and negative lines. 

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Once you're done with your design, place the battery on one of the gaps. Align the positive and negative ends with the graphite lines. 

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Take an LED and bend the bottom ends of the wires. 

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Tape the wire at the end of the lines across the other gap, aligning positive and negative wires. Make sure your LED stands upright. The wires should be in contact with the graphite lines. Tip: The longer side of the LED is the positive side.

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What's going on? Graphite is an electrical conductor, perfect for learning about circuits and electricity! Because graphite is low in conductivity, the success of a circuit will depend on the length, thickness, and amount of graphite on the paper. For example, the longer the graphite path is, the dimmer your light will be. It's time to experiment! Try drawing lines of different lengths. Does it make a difference to the LED? Try drawing lines of different thicknesses. Does that make a difference to the LED?

paper

graphite pencil - make sure they are art pencils!

foil

9v battery

leds

tape

Graphite Circuit

Christmas

Hanukkah

handmade cards

Sending handmade holiday cards is a tradition in our family. We love sending mail through the post and the recipients love receiving them! Since Christmas is quickly approaching, we found a way to really spread the holiday cheer with these creative Holiday Card Circuits!Looking for more ways to pair art with engineering? <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/store" target="_self">KiwiCo's</a> <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/us/store/dp/light-up-wire-art-project-kit/5734" target="_self">Light-Up Wire Art</a> is sure to brighten things up, and contains all of the materials needed to create a stunning decoration!

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Decide how you want to decorate the front of your card and cut out paper shapes. 
Looking for a gift? Checkout KiwiCo's <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/christmas-toys/?diy=inline">Christmas gifts here</a>.

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Plan where you will place the LEDs. In this example we will have an LED shine from the bottom of the UFO so we cut a hole in the paper there.

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Lay out your paper shapes and stick them down with a glue stick. We also used double sided sticky foam squares under some of the stars and the UFO for a 3D look. Feel free to decorate more with glitter, markers, and more! We covered the hole with a piece of tissue paper. This is optional, but we wanted to go for a different lighting effect.

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Before you start making circuits, take a look at the examples as shown. - The simple circuit is the most basic circuit to lighting up an LED. One foil strip connects one side of the battery to one wire of the LED. The second foil strip connects to the second wire of the LED and the second side of the battery to loop around the current.

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- If you want to use more than one LED, make sure to use the parallel configuration. We recommend using no more than two LEDs for this configuration because the battery is not powerful enough to light the parallel circuit with more than two LEDs. Make sure that all the positive side (longer lead on a regular LED) are in the same orientation. In our parallel circuit example, the positive sides are pointed to the top. - We don't recommend using the series configuration because the battery is not powerful enough to light the series circuit with two LEDs. Note: In this step we used regular LEDs (they have the two wires!), and sewable LEDs (looks like an oval!). Any kind of LEDs work - just be sure the LED, as well as the battery have good contact with the foil and that there is no tape in between the parts and the foil.

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To build a circuit, glue some aluminum foil to a piece of paper. We used surface mount spray, but regular white glue or rubber cement should work too.

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Draw out a circuit with a colored sharpie. In our example, we used a blue marker to draw our circuit. Cut out a piece of foil to practice drawing a circuit! Trace your battery, and LED(s) onto the foil with a black marker. It might be helpful to also draw a black line to visualize the path of the current.

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Cut out the foil paths by following the colored lines. Use clear tape to tape the foil paths to the back of your card. Next tape your LED and battery to the foil. Make sure the LED shines through a hole you've made. Notice the LED bridges a 1 mm gap in the foil paths and that the battery is only sitting on one of the foil paths.

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Cut a small piece of rectangular foil with paper backing (from step 5). This flap of foil is used to connect the second foil path to the top of the battery to complete the circuit.

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Once the connections are made, your LED should light up. If it doesn't, make sure the connections are secure or try flipping the battery over.

What's going on?
You made a circuit! Electricity flows through circuits as charged particles move from the battery through the LED and back to the other side of the battery forming a closed loop. This flow of electrons is called current. Certain materials like aluminum foil allow electricity to flow whereas other materials like wood and rubber do not.

construction paper (any type, multiple colors)

3v coin cell batteries (available on amazon)

aluminum foil

leds (any type of LEDs work, available on amazon)

clear tape

Glue Stick

permanent marker (black and one other color)

spray adhesive (optional)

double stick foam (optional)

glitter (optional)

decorative paper (optional)

Winter Break

Holiday Card Circuits

pumpkin

fall

Halloween

Harness the power of pumpkins with a pumpkin battery and see how many volts it can produce!&nbsp; This project is pretty similar to another DIY we’ve featured, the <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/diy/Science-Projects-for-Kids/3/project/Lemon-Battery/2772" target="_self">Lemon Battery.</a> Just like with the lemon, pumpkins have acidic juices inside that help transport electrical energy. Lemons are more acidic, so that’s why they’re the normal go-to for building batteries. For fall time, here’s how to do the same thing with pumpkins!<h2>Learn how to make a pumpkin battery! </h2>

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Gather your pumpkin battery materials!

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Stick a copper strip and a zinc strip in opposite sides of each pumpkin. 

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Connect the copper strip from one pumpkin to the zinc strip in the other pumpkin with the alligator clip.

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Connect the black lead from the multimeter to the remaining zinc strip and the red lead to the remaining copper strip. 

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To see how powerful your pumpkin battery is, turn the multimeter to the V with the line above it!

V stands for volts. You should have approximately 1.5 V. If you don’t, check your connections. 

How does the pumpkin battery work?The acid in the pumpkin is still strong enough to get electricity moving. It starts by dissolving charged ions of zinc off of the zinc metal. The zinc ions leave behind extra electrons in the zinc metal, which travel over to the copper through the wire. That movement of electrons creates electricity! However, the flow would eventually stop if it only went into the copper and didn’t have anywhere else to go. The copper would get too packed with electrons. So where do the electrons go? Back into the pumpkin juice! The acid in the pumpkin also has ions of hydrogen in it, and they love to grab onto loose electrons. The hydrogen takes electrons from the copper, and the flow continues to go.

Check out our other DIY, the <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/diy/Science-Projects-for-Kids/3/project/Lemon-Battery/2772">Lemon Battery</a>, if you want to make more fruit-based batteries. What other fruits and vegetables can you use to make electricity flow? You could try a potato, an apple, a banana, or a head of lettuce!

pumpkins (2)

alligator clip

copper strips (2)

zinc strips (2)

multimeter

Pumpkin Battery

Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day crafts

engineering

indoor project

This card is sure to be the highLIGHT of your Valentine's day! Conductive paint makes this an easy, but impressive, circuitry project.

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Print out <a href="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/images.kiwicrate.com/printables/Printable_Tinker_CircuitValentines.pdf" target="_blank">the template</a> onto colored paper and cut along the solid black lines.

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Tape or glue the small piece of paper (the bottom of the lightbulb) to the back of the switch flap.

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Fold the switch flap up towards the front of the card.

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Using the pushpin, poke a pair of holes through the two small dots in the center of the card (near the top of the heart). Insert the two leads of the LED through the holes with the longer pin (the positive side) on the left. Leave the LED slightly raised above the paper (about 1/8"), and fold the pins down flat on the back of the card.

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Time for the conductive paint! This part can get a little messy, so be careful not to smear your wet paint. Unfold the switch flap so your card lays flat. Squeeze out the paint around the LED, making sure it makes contact with the two pins. Then squeeze out the paint along the gray line

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Next, squeeze a slightly larger dot on the inside of the switch flap, and inside the battery circle. Make sure the dots are touching the paint lines.

The more paint you put, the longer it will take to dry.

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The paint will act as a glue for your battery. Carefully place the battery positive side down, over the larger circle.

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Wait overnight for the paint to dry. When it is completely dry, fold the flap and watch it light up! For a personalized touch, write your recipient's name inside the lightbulb, or create your own graphical circuits instead of using the template!

colored paper

printer

Scissors

Tape

push pin

led light

coin cell battery (CR2032)

conductive paint

Light-Up Valentine

useful craft project

Repurpose those pencils without erasers to create a light-up flower pencil! 

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Wrap the pencil in green tape. We wrapped our pencil in two shades of green. 

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Cut two 4x4” (10.2x10.2 cm)&nbsp;squares out of the red cardstock. Then, cut one 4x4” square and one 3x3” (7.6) square out of the pink construction paper. 

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Glue the large pink square to one of the large red squares.

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Crease the square in half vertically and horizontally. 

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Flip the square over. Then, crease it diagonally in both directions 

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Fold the square into a small square as pictured. 

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Draw a heart on the smaller square lining up the bottom point of the heart with the folded point of the square. 

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Repeat steps 5-10 with the remaining large square and small square. Then, open up all of the heart petals.

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Poke a hole in the center of each heart petal with a pushpin. Then, widen the hole with a pencil. 

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Wrap the LED around the top of the pencil. Then, press the solid red petals onto the pencil. 

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 Hot glue the LED in place. Then, place the smallest heart petal over the LED. 

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Flip the pencil over so that you are looking at the underside of the flower. Then, bend the longest wire of the LED towards the underside of the flower. 

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Tape the coin battery over the bent LED wire with copper tape. 

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Bend the other wire of the LED so that it just barely touches the exposed side of the coin battery.  

Make sure that your coin battery is in the right orientation. If your LED doesn’t turn on, flip your battery over! 

Panda Crate

Koala Crate

Kiwi Crate

Atlas Crate

Doodle Crate

Tinker Crate

Maker Crate

Eureka Crate

9 easy circuit projects for kids

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