Squishy Circuits is a project to teach kids about electricity and electronics by having them form circuits out of Play-Doh-like dough — with two varieties, conductive and insulating.
Squishy Circuits were developed at the University of St. Thomas by undergraduate Samuel Johnson and Dr. AnnMarie Thomas. The purpose of their development is to facilitate electronics education to younger students. Research is being done to determine the most effective implementation of this learning tool in a middle school science curriculum. Our hope is that through the use of this tool, students will better understand electronics concepts, become more interested.
The simplest circuit to build consists of an LED, battery pack, and three small “tubes” of dough (Two conductive and one insulating). To build this circuit, separate the two conductive tubes with a tube of insulating dough. Now, insert each of the battery pack wires into a separate tube of conductive dough. Do the same with the leads from the LED but be sure that the short end of the LED is inserted into the same tube that holds the black, or negative, battery pack wire.
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