Electric
playdough! conductive recipe and ideas to light up your dough activities!
electric conducting play dough can
be made using a basic
cooked salt dough recipe no changes are necessary and an insulating dough recipe that we found a little
trickier. Model your salt based dough into two untouching sculptures
and position any number of LED bulbs between the two ensuring the lead, prong
or probes span the gap. Place a negative connector into one section of dough
and the positive connector into the other. Swich on the power and see if
your circuit is complete. Sugar based dough acts as a barrier to the
current.
Watch Squishy Circuits Annmarie Thomas on TED Talks
Electro playdough kit now available on amazon.co.uk
NB. the diodes might have one shorter lead/spike (-cathode) than the
other (+anode), if the bulbs fail to light up, turn them around to
try again.
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Show how a circuit is created
using LEDs to demonstrate the flow of electrical current.
To read more about conductive playdough squishy circuits has excellent information
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Although we failed to make a successful batch of insulting dough, we
found plastic, glass, ceramic tubs, pots & lids
are all effective in demonstrating the barrier 'wall' that prevents the
current's path, along with empty laminated pouches cut to size!
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Resources needed to plan this activity
Links are to amazon.co.uk
10mm LED light diodes
To power the LEDs
you can use either
One, 4 AA compartment battery pack with negative
and positive wires already attached + connectors to help the wires
stay in the dough. An on/off switch might also be useful. If you find
the wires are too short you can extend their reach by using crocodile clips & leads
Or
a set of crocodile clips, leads and a 9v square battery
The salt in the dough will eventually corrode the metal leads,
wiping them clean between uses will help prolong their life.
Risk assessing the activity
People may worry when
they hear young children, batteries and electricity are all part of
a hands-on activity. Assess the risks that your project involves and take
steps to ensure that everyone is reassured and stays safe.
This PDF on Squishy
circuits explains basic circuitry and the classroom guide offers activity examples
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Safety awareness:
Connecting a component
like a LED bulb directly to the battery pack's metal terminals will cause
the LED to burn out or possibly pop.
Do not allow the battery
pack's metal clips/terminals/connectors to touch each other. The current
needs to flow through the dough to avoid the battery heating up.
Battery pack safety labels and full A4 sized label paper on Amazon.co.uk
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More light up dough ideas:
Birthday
cake and pretend LED candles
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