I was recently asked by the Youth librarian if I could help out with a technology based event for a children’s event at the Library at the Dock. After the successful reaction we got when I hacked together a glowing eye in the children’s drop-in session, I presented the idea of taking the idea to the next level and building some Flashing Robot Cards that the children could decorate and take home.
These cards come in a pack with all the things needed to build a basic flashing circuit. While this was more of a creative event, I could not help but teach some basic electronics principles to out young attendees. We covered how electricity works, the difference between positive and negative current, as well as how to identify the positive anode on an LED.
We used conductive ink to join the components together and by the time our time was up, the children were playing with their flashing LED cards. It was a great time and I really had a blast teaching these kids about electronics. I even finished up my own card.