A few months ago I found myself at an electronics store getting a quick tutorial about all kinds of fancy gizmos and such. I went there with the intention of buying bulbs, batteries, and some wire to make circuit experiments for my students. I have wanted to make a Conductor or Insulator Science Experiment for so long! But after telling the nice man that I’m a teacher and what I was looking for, he got really excited and that’s how the tutorial started.

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I ended up learning a lot about all kinds of stuff and buying some really cute mini jumpers, battery holders, batteries and bulbs.

Anyway, that was months ago. Since then I’ve been so busy with school that I had to put that project on the back burner.  It’s a good thing I got a few hours and a good vibe yesterday so I finally started it and once I got started, I could not stop. I was darting from room to room rounding up my supplies and trying out new ideas along the way. Then I spotted the clipboard and everything just clicked after that.

I started by inserting the batteries into the battery holder and clamping it down with the clipboard’s clip. My battery holder already came with two wires attached, a red and a black. I clamped one end of a short alligator jumper clip onto the red wire and left the other end loose. I taped the black wire to the base of the bulb which was housed in a tiny matchbox. A paperclip was wrapped around the swirly part of the bulb. I clamped another alligator clip to the paperclip and the other end of that gator clip was loose. I left the loose ends for the purpose of leaving the circuit open so that my students can test different materials for electric conductivity. The circles at the center are like holding cells for the materials to be tested. I just cut them from a tissue roll and taped them down. Then I labelled it with adhesive foam dotty letters. It finally was complete!

Every time I look at it, I feel so good inside. Crafting just makes me happy!

I saw that another teacher did an experiment with her class to demonstrate that metals are conductors of heat and plastic spoons are insulators. This experiment is easy to do. You will need plastic plates, ice cubes, plastic spoons, and metal spoons.

More ideas will be added soon.