Whoah. I just read this article about Adobe Spark, which consist of these three tools:
- Spark Post (to make posters and graphics, like Canva)
- Spark Page (to make web stories – think digital magazines)
- Spark video (the old Adobe Voice)
and had to share IMMEDIATELY.
The best part is, these tools are now cross-platform! You can use your iPad or your laptop! I have downloaded all three and plan to try them in the next week. Stay tuned!
Paper circuits was by far the most popular activity of the month. Indeed, it was so popular I still am getting students asking me if they can make a card!
- Craft supplies (paper, glue, scissors, tracing paper and tape)
- 3v lithium coin batteries
- Circuit sticker LEDs (Chibitronics makes them)
- Copper tape
To begin with I made a prototype using a guide created by the Exploratorium in San Francisco:
I used a simple parallel circuit:
- Make sure to not rip the tape, which is finicky. TIP: take the backing off gradually as you go.
- Also make sure the tape is as smooth as possible and the LEDS are properly glued to both tracks.
- LEDS also have to be facing the same direction (+ side all on one track, – side on the other)
- If it doesn’t seem to work at first, try flipping the batter over. Not sure why this is. It feels a little like magic.
Once I had an idea of what I was doing, I brought it to the students (and Staff got into it as well!)
Here was the result:
There were some happy mothers on Mother’s day!
Paper circuits was a great introduction to the concept of Makerspace. It combines a simple technology that the girls can simply copy or take farther (circuits) with the fun of crafts to produce a magical result. The girls were thrilled with their cards and want to do more.
Personally- I want to make more too! I have some ideas about how to use it with silhouettes…
LittleBits is a set of easy-to-use electronic building blocks. They are a fun, practical way for students to understand how circuits work:
Our lunchtime forays into Littlebits did not, alas, gender a whole lot of enthusiasm among the students. The teachers however, had a great time!
I am not sure if there were simply too many things going on that week, or if the littlest were not that exciting, or if the activity I had planned – a simple, colour some wings and tape them to the servo with a buzzer to make it buzz like an insect – was just too you and unexciting:
Here is a link to a five second video that gives you an idea of how annoying the buzzer is.
It’s true that Littlebits are geared towards more of a younger crowd, but as you can see from the video above, there are some pretty sophisticated things you can do with it.