Please be sure to visit the Squishy Circuits main page before proceeding. 

Squishy Circuits .... Explorations for fun and inquiry

How to start?  Every explorer arrives with his or her own background and wants to build on it.
  • The struggle to understand is important for learning, so don't steal the struggle!
  • Great to start with 2 titles on a board and some stickies:   "What I know"  and "What I want to know"
  • After safety precautions, set a challenge.
  • When students meet an obstacle, don't answer it. Ask them a further question.

Basic Saftey:
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"These activities are designed such that the dough is used to connect components. Never connect components, such as LEDs, directly to the battery pack, as running too much current through components can damage them, possibly causing them to overheat or pop."  http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/apthomas/SquishyCircuits/buildingCircuits.htm
Small children can wear safety glasses.

Some First Challenges:

  • ​Can you get an LED bulb to light with your dough and battery?
  • If you turn the bulb around, does it still work?
  • Can you light more that one LED?
  • Describe what works and why you think it works.  Take pictures of your models.
  • What does not work? 
  • Can you use both kinds of dough to make the LED light up?
  • Can you make a motor run?
  • Can you make a sound?
  • Can you create something with 2 kinds of dough, LEDs, a buzzer, and a motor? 

Some teacher information to guide your explorations with students  

(Play videos for yourself, and scroll down each document, I recommend that you take videos of the students working, rather that just showing them these demos. Just though you might like to have some teacher resources.)
  1. The first video explains the one way "flow" in LEDs. You may decide to let students play with the LEDs and a circular battery to get that point across.
  2. Video 2 is a quick view to help teachers develop challenges for students. Students may enjoy making a video of their own discoveries.
  3. Listen to the end of the second video to find out how to link pitch and resistance.
Created by Kathleen Chromicz, 2013; Updated 2019