Squishy Circuits

SUMMARY

Electrical circuits are the foundation of our modern,

technology-driven lives. Everything from simple light bulbs

to complex devices like the iPhone depend on electrical

circuits in order to function. The basic structure of each of

these devices is the same: there is a power source, which is

connected to some wires, which are connected to a device

that uses the power to do something useful (like lighting up

a room or displaying a Facebook message from your friend).

In this lesson, the students will create a functioning

electrical circuit using a battery pack, LEDs, and conductive

and insulating playdough. By completing student-led

experiments, groups of two to three students will work

together to attempt to light their LED up using various

materials.

Squishy Circuits

were created in the Playful Learning Lab

at the University of St. Thomas. They are a design tool that

allows everyone, from young children through adults, to

create circuits and explore energy using playdough.

LESSON OBJECTIVES

Upon completing this lesson the students will:

• Develop models to illustrate and explain that energy

can be transferred from place to place by electric

currents and that electric currents owing through a

simple circuit can be used to produce light;

• Understand the difference between series, and parallel

circuits;

• Construct explanations of how some materials allow

electricity to ow through a circuit and some do not;

and

• Understand the difference between conductive material

and insulating material.

Squishy Circuits

Grades 4, 6, & 7

LESSON PLAN

GRADE 4

STANDARD

4-PS3-2. Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and

electric currents.

DISCIPLINARY CORE IDEA (DCI)

PS3.B: Conservation of Energy and Energy Transfer

Energy is present whenever there are moving objects, sound, light, or heat. When objects collide, energy can be transferred from one

object to another, thereby changing their motion. In such collisions, some energy is typically also transferred to the surrounding air; as a

result, the air gets heated and sound is produced.

Light also transfers energy from place to place.

Energy can also be transferred from place to place by electric currents, which can then be used locally to produce motion, sound, heat, or

light.

CROSS-CUTTING CONCEPTS (CCC)

Energy and Matter

Energy can be transferred in various ways and between objects

COLLEGE & CAREER-READY SCIENCE STANDARDS 2021

GRADE 6

STANDARD

6-PS3-4. Plan an investigation to determine the relationships among the energy transferred, the type of matter, the mass,and the

change in the average kinetic energy of the particles as measured by the temperature of the sample.

DISCIPLINARY CORE IDEA (DCI)

PS3.B: Conservation of Energy and Energy Transfer

The amount of energy transfer needed to change the temperature of a matter sample by a given amount depends on the nature of the

matter, the size of the sample, and the environment.

CROSS-CUTTING CONCEPTS (CCC)

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity Proportional relationships (e.g. speed as the ratio of distance traveled to time taken) among different

types of quantities provide information about the magnitude of properties and processes.

GRADE 7

STANDARD

7-PS3-5. Construct, use, and present arguments to support the claim that when the kinetic energy of an object changes, energy is

transferred to or from the object.

DISCIPLINARY CORE IDEA (DCI)

PS3.B: Conservation of Energy and Energy Transfer

When the motion energy of an object changes, there is inevitably some other change in energy at the same time.

CROSS-CUTTING CONCEPTS (CCC)

Energy and Matter

Energy may take different forms (e.g. energy in elds, thermal energy, energy of motion).

MATERIALS

• Battery Packs and Batteries with Leads

• Conductive Dough

• Insulating Dough

• LEDs (should be appropriate for the source voltage)

Optional, but recommended:

• Buzzer

• Motor

CONDUCTIVE DOUGH RECIPE – http://youtu.be/cpUFL5LZpv4

• 1 Cup Water (tap)

• 1 1/2 Cups of Flour

• 1/4 Cup of Salt

• 3 Tbsp. of Cream of Tartar

• 1 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil Food Coloring (optional)

INSULATING DOUGH RECIPE – http://youtu.be/Wz8rGNt-iEQ

• 1 1/2 Cup of Flour

• 1/2 Cup of Sugar

• 3 Tbsp. of Vegetable Oil

• 1/2 Cup of De-Ionized (or distilled) Water

• 1 tsp. of Granulated Alum (optional)

TEACHERS PLEASE NOTE: The materials can be purchased for under

$100 and most are highly reusable. Note that the dough is perishable

and has a limited shelf life. Refrigerating the dough in sealed

containers can extend its life considerably. You can nd these materials

in retail stores or at https://squishycircuits.com/collections/all. If

making the dough, you may want to complete that part a few days

before the lesson. Keep the dough in an air-tight container.

SAFETY NOTE

In general, Squishy Circuits is a very safe activity. However, some

safety notes should be addressed.

• The battery packs should never be shorted out (letting the wire/

terminals touch each other directly). Some battery holders may

have safety features that prevent overheating, but with other

battery holders, they will quickly warm up and could cause burns

if shorted. When doing any electrical project, batteries should

never be shorted directly.

• LEDs should not be hooked directly to the battery packs. They

will burn out and may pop. LEDs require a resistor to limit the

amount of power owing through them. With Squishy Circuits,

the conductive dough acts as the wire and a resistor, so they’re

safe to use with the dough.

• Batteries should always be removed from the battery packs

before they are stored to avoid risk of re. It is also important

that the students do not ingest the dough because it may be

contaminated.

• Also note that LEDs are easily bent to the point where they break.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

1. How are electrical circuits created?

2. What does it mean for a material to be conductive?

Insulating?

DURATION

The activity, as is, requires at least 25 to 35 minutes,

although this doesn’t leave much time for exploration and

experimentation. It can easily be extended to 50 or 60

minutes.

ENGAGE

Begin the class by sharing this TED Talk video about

squishy circuits. Watch the video at www.ted.com/talks/

annmarie_thomas_hands_on_science_with_squishy_

circuits?language=en#t-221869.

After the students have been divided into pairs or trios,

provide each student with the materials listed.

Next, provide the students with the following directions:

1. With your partner, discuss different ways to make

the LED light up. (Use this time to investigate your

materials, but don’t hook anything up yet)

2. Draw in your Science journal how you will attempt to

solve this challenge: “Make your LED light up using

only the materials in front of you.” Have the students

share their ideas on how they would like to solve this

challenge.

EXPLORE

1. Using the materials, work with your partner as a team

to create a working circuit. The students will use

the attached worksheet to build simple circuits to

understand the fundamental concepts of circuits.

2. Spend time wandering the classroom to identify student

misunderstandings, comprehension, and answer

questions as well as ask questions. Provide guidance as

you see t.

3. Encourage the students to plan and document in their

journals as a way of emphasizing the engineering

design process.

EXPLAIN

1. Discuss which types of circuits worked and which

didn’t. Allow students the opportunity to construct

explanations on why certain types of circuits worked

and other types didn’t.

2. Ask the 3rd-grade students, Why does one dough

conduct electricity and the other doesn’t? (Some

materials allow electricity to ow through a circuit and

some do not.) Ask the 6th-grade students, What is the

difference between a series and a parallel circuit?

3. Discuss why the ingredients in each dough affects how

easily electricity can ow through each of them. (Guide

the students toward explanations about conductors

and insulators.) Discuss the concept of conductors and

insulators.

4. Have students create a list of materials

that are good conductors of electricity

and good insulators. (conductors =

metal, water, citrus fruit; insulators = wood, plastic)

5. Show the students images of items that may be

good conductors and insulators. Show images of

disassembled electronic devices (e.g., laptops,

tablets, cell phones) to give the students a real-world

representation of how circuits work.

6. Have the students think of different real-world

applications for series and parallel circuits. If you have

many lights in a room, typically they are connected in

series with the switch – that way one switch can control

all of the lights at once. Christmas lights are a good

example of parallel circuits because if one bulb burns

out, the rest continue to glow. Older sets of these lights

actually were in series so if one burnt out, you had to try

every single bulb to nd the bad one and replace it to

make the rest turn on!

ELABORATE

The students can design and build their own circuits.

Provide students with another challenge – Can you design

both series and parallel circuits? For example, they can

build circuit sculptures.

First, have the students sketch their designs on paper.

Then, they can build and test their designs. Encourage the

students to plan and document in their journals as a way of

emphasizing the engineering design process.

MORE FUN

Turn your body into a human conductor of electricity.

Create a giant circuit using an Energy Stick® (or similar device) –

provided by the S.C. Energy Ofce (while supplies last) or available

for purchase online. Have the students form a circle and hold hands.

Explain how the circle compares to a circuit. Open the circuit by

letting go of one student’s hand while everyone else hangs on.

Grab a silver ring on one end of the Energy Stick® while the person

next to you grabs the other one. The Energy Stick® ashes and

buzzes because the circuit is complete again. Should anyone break

the circuit, the detector stops. Explain that switches and breakers are

nothing more than devices that either connect conductors to turn

something “on” or separate them to turn something “off.” Have

students wash hands after this activity.

Try adding other elements to the closed circuit to search for

electrical conductors and insulators. Conductors allow electricity

to ow through them while insulators resist current ow. Test some

conductors and insulators by bringing them into contact with

both electrodes, simultaneously. Try items such as metals, woods,

rubber, graphite, paper, plastic, etc. Does the connection work? An

additional method of teaching circuits is SCRAPY CIRCUITS. This

method uses objects such as tea lights and binder clips to create

circuits. More information is available at https://www.scrappycircuits.

com.

EVALUATE

Have the students to respond in writing to the following

evaluation questions. Suggested answers are provided.

• What is electricity? (Electrical energy is the energy

owing in an electric circuit.)

• What is a conductor? (Conductors facilitate, or

conduct, the transfer of heat energy.)

• What is an insulator? (Insulators inhibit, or insulate, the

transfer of heat energy.)

Draw an electrical circuit with the following components:

battery, wire, and Light Emitting Diode (LED). (Allow for

student responses.)

• What is a series circuit? (Parts of the circuit are in a

row.)

• What is a parallel circuit? (Independent paths of

multiple rows.)

• How can you tell that energy is moving (transferred)

from the battery pack and through the dough? (The

light turns on.)

• When is there energy present in the circuit? How

could you prove this? (Allow for student responses.)

• What components (parts) are needed to make a

circuit work? (power source, wire connectors, switch)

• What congurations of insulating and conductive

dough work to construct a functioning circuit? (Allow

for student responses.)

E-LEARNING ACTIVITY

Use this Webquest activity will guide students through

electricity basics, understanding circuits and the

components needed to make a circuit work. Please visit

www.madison-schools.com/cms/lib/MS01001041/

Centricity/Domain/3318/Electric%20Circuits%20

webquest.pdf.

This activity can also be used as an additional

evaluation tool or an alternative to the ELABORATE

Activity.

VIRTUAL LAB ACTIVITY

Students can access this BrainPOP activity – Circuit

Construction Kit – to investigate how to construct

a circuit. Visit www.brainpop.com/games/

circuitconstructionkitdc/.

TIPS, TRICKS & SAFETY

It is best to always do these activities with adult

supervision.

• Don’t connect the battery directly to the LED, it may

burn the LED out.

• Try not to mash the two types of dough into each

other. This makes it difcult to separate them for future

classes.

• The LED only works in one direction. This is called

polarity.

• Notice how one “leg” of the LED is slightly longer

than the other one. The longer leg should always be

attached to the positive (red) wire from the battery.

• Sometimes, thin strands of insulating dough will still

conduct some electricity, and the LED will become

dimly lit. If this happens, use it as an opportunity to

discuss resistance!

• Don’t cross the wires on the battery connectors – this

will short out the battery! It may heat up and explode.

• Warn students to always be careful when experimenting

with electricity. High voltages and high currents can

be deadly. For example, they should never stick wires

or other objects into wall sockets.

SOURCES

• Squishy Circuits Activity – http://gk12.cs.ksu.edu/uploads/

lesson_material/le/26/squishy-lessonplan.pdf

• Lesson Plan for Squishy Circuits – https://pdst.ie/sites/default/

les/Lesson%20plan%20for%20Squishy_Circuits.pdf

• Squishy Circuits NGSS Curricula and Educator’s Guide – https://

cdn.shopify.com/s/les/1/2640/3158/les/Squishy-Circuits-

NGSS-Curricula-and-Educators-Guide.pdf?12

STUDENT WORKSHEET NAME: ___________________________________

SQUISHY CIRCUITS WORKSHEET

1. Begin with two lumps of the conductive dough. Plug one wire from the battery pack into each piece and bridge the

gap with a LED.

• Does the LED light up? (circle one) YES NO

• Take the LED out and ip it around so that each “leg” is in the opposite piece of conductive dough. Does the

LED light up? (circle one) YES NO

• The LED only works in one direction. The longer terminal should be attached to the positive (red) wire from the

battery pack. This is called a CLOSED CIRCUIT.

2. Next, pull one of the LED legs out of the dough.

• Does the LED light up? (circle one) YES NO

• In the last step, the LED went out because we broke the loop of electricity. This is called an OPEN CIRCUIT.

3. Put the LED leg back in so your LED is on. Now, push the two pieces of conductive dough together.

• Does the LED light up? (circle one) YES NO

• In the last step, the LED went out. This is called a SHORT CIRCUIT.

4. Separate the two pieces. The LED should again light up because the electricity must go through the LED to

complete the circuit. Now create a “sandwich” with the insulating dough between two pieces of conducting dough.

• Does the LED light up? (circle one) YES NO

• The insulating dough does not let electricity ow through it easily. It acts like a wall to the electricity. The

electricity has to go around the insulating dough and through the LED that lights up!

• There is one continuous path for the electricity to ow through. This is a SERIES CIRCUIT.

5. Now we can create Squishy Circuits that do not have to be separated – like “sushi circuits!” There are multiple paths

for the electricity to ow through. This is a PARALLEL CIRCUIT.

6. Now you can design your own circuit. Draw your design below.