Paper Circuits Greeting Cards
Light up your love with paper circuits this Valentine’s Day—no soldering required! Create a sure-to-impress flashing birthday card or design a light-up Christmas card—all with paper circuits! In this activity, students are guided through the process to create simple paper circuitry using only copper tape, a coin cell battery, a light-emitting diode (LED) and small electronic components such as a LilyPad Button Board. Making light-up greeting cards with paper circuitry is great way to teach the basics of how circuits function while giving students an outlet to express their artistic creativity.
A completed paper circuit card!Copyright 2014 SparkFun Education CC BY-SA 4.0 https://learn.sparkfun.com/resources/68
Electronic circuits are at the core of nearly every new technology. Circuits power cell phones, computers and televisions, and are essential in cars, houses and kitchens. Circuits are everywhere and modern innovations would not be possible without them. Circuits enable electricity to flow between speakers, bulbs, buzzers, sensors, buttons and batteries. When engineers design new technologies, they often design and build companion electronic circuits so the technology functions as intended. In this activity, students are reminded about how electronic circuits work and then build their own circuits using simple, easy-to-use materials and provided templates (three designs). A PowerPoint® presentation is provided.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Design a product (a light-up pop-up greeting card) from a template, utilizing symbols and a model.
- Troubleshoot and iterate through different designs.
- Explain how a paper circuit works, including which electrical components accomplish which task.