December 9, 2014 by tinyadventure

DIY Mini Toothbrush Robot Bugs -STEM Activity

Robots on the cheap! A fun little project to enjoy with your kids. This introduces them to simple circuits.

Here is my video tutorial!

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Materials

A cheap toothbrush
A coin 3V battery
2 flashing LEDs
One mobile phone coin motor
One sticky pad and sticky clear tape

All of this id available in small quantities on eBay at low cost.

Cut the handle off of your tooth brush and stick your motor to the toothbrush head.

Now add your battery using the sticky pad. Make sure the negative (black) contact for the motor is under the battery.

Tape down the other contact on the top of the battery. Your bot should buzz happily around table!

For more fun, slide two flashing LEDs for eyes on to each side of the battery under the tape (the long contact must be on the top of the battery).

Brill, flashy, buzzy fun! Enjoy!

February 19, 2014 by tinyadventure

Moving Sculpture Bots Toddler STEM Activity

Early Years STEM Activity:
This is a simple, fun, cheap and never gets old! We used our motors and OFF CENTRE wheels for this activity which we have used in previous robot building activities. A small plastic lid is used as a wheel for a small motor driven by a couple of AA batteries. This is mounted on a lightweight foam or polystyrene body. Here is a video of them in action!

A motor and battery box can be found at your local Maplin electrical store for a couple of pounds! We use a plastic lid as it doesn’t hurt fingers when it is in motion or if it comes loose. Good duck tape is need to secure the motor well so the vibration from the wheel is transferred to the body to make it move!

We allowed our toddlers to work with their parents to build a bot using foam from our local scrap store, sticks, golf tees, matchsticks, wooden beads and cotton reels! This gave them the chance to problem solve, easily modifying their bots changing the number of legs and leg length for example.

Happy Bot Building People!

Tiny Adventure Toddler and Pre school workshops Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

January 14, 2014 by tinyadventure

Dough Circuits Pre-School STEM Activity

Early Years STEM Activity:
Inspired by Squishy Circuits website we decided to play around with dough and the simplest equipment: Dough (shop bought play-doh or homemade salt dough), LEDs (from your local electronics shop or some old Christmas tree lights) and 9V batteries. If you have some crocodile clips it helps but it’s not essential!

Here is a circuit with out crocodile clips! To get your LEDs to light you need two separate pieces of dough connected to the two terminals on the battery and the LEDs have to connect the two pieces of dough to complete the circuit. LEDs only allow current to flow in one direction, so if they don’t light turn them around!

Avoiding problems:
Don’t test the LEDs by touching them on the batteries directly as this will damage them! We tried AA batteries but the current was too small. We also tried Christmas tree bulbs, but the current was too small to light them (LEDs need much less current).
Now add curious toddlers and parents!