LED Spinner Toy: Heart
30-60 min
Ages 8+
What Will You Make?
In this tutorial, you’ll learn to make a paper spinner that lights up – it makes cool light trails.
What Will You Learn?
You’ll learn to build a parallel circuit and how to craft a spinner using chipboard and fabric.
Make Your “Love”-ly Light Show.
Step 1
Print and cut out the template.
Step 2
Glue the front template to a piece of chipboard (a cereal box is perfect).
Step 3
Cut it out.
Step 4
Flip it over and glue the back template to the back.
Step 5
Use an Awl to poke out the two center holes as shown.
Step 6
Lay the conductive tape over the template as shown, then continue onto the back in Step 7.
Step 7
Continue to lay the negative side first (the piece that goes straight over the edge).
Make a small loop of conductive tape to connect the battery to the negative side of the circuit. Then, place the battery on top of the loop with the positive side facing up. Finally, continue to lay the other (positive) piece of tape over the battery.
Step 8
Place circuit stickers over the template where indicated, making sure to match the + and -.
Step 9
Cut out the heart templates. We will use these templates to cut the shapes from felt. If desired, you could skip the felt and leave the hearts intact, only punching out the holes where shown.
Step 10
Use each template to cut out the shape from felt. Use a punch or awl to poke holes where shown.
Step 11
Cut out another large heart for the back.
Step 12
Glue the heart pieces on top of the LEDs, making sure that the holes line up. This will ensure that the light from the LEDs will shine brightly.
Step 14
Glue the large heart to the back, and use an awl to poke holes from the front through to the back.
Step 15
Cut a 3-foot piece of yarn. Thread the yarn through one of the holes and back through the other. Tie the two ends in a knot and cut away any extra yarn. Pull the yarn loop so that the same amount of yarn is on each side of the heart.
Step 16
It’s time to spin!
Hold the yarn at both ends, with the heart in the center. Start to swing the heart front to back in a circular motion. Once the yarn gets twisted, pull outward on the yarn and it will untwist and retwist quickly. Keep pulling whenever the yarn winds the other way.
Watch the lights from the side for a spectacular light show!
What Is Happening Here?
Persistence of Vision
In this project we built a circuit with three LEDs that light up. When you move them the light moves too. If you move your spinner quickly enough your eye blurs together the individual points lights, creating the appearance of a continuous line or circle of light.
This is the result of a phenomenon known as persistence of vision.
Your eye and brain retain a visual impression for about 1/30 of a second. (The exact time depends on the brightness of the image.) This ability to retain an image is known as persistence of vision.
As you spin the heart, the eye is presented with a succession of points of light. When you move it fast enough, your brain retains the images long enough to build up a complete image of your surroundings.
Different technologies take advantage of human persistence of vision. For example, when we watch a movie, it feels like a continuous experience even though the screen is dark about half the time. Films show one new frame every 1/24 of a second. Depending on the film, each frame is shown twice or three times during this period. The eye retains the image of each frame long enough to give us the illusion of smooth motion. Even newer TV and computer monitors take advantage of our failure to notice the constant and steady refreshing of images right in front of us.
Learn more on Exploritorium.
What Is Next?
Paint with Light
You can use this project to paint with light, a technique where you photograph the light trail created by the moving LEDs. You’ll need a digital camera or a phone with a long-exposure or slow shutter app (like Slow Shutter Cam or Spectre).
To make a light painting, you leave the camera’s shutter open for a few seconds or more. This is known as long-exposure photography. By leaving the shutter open, you can capture the movement of light over time.
Exposure refers to the amount of light that comes into the camera for a photograph. The exposure is determined by how long the shutter is open, how wide the lens opening (aperture) is, and how much light is in the space.
Set up a light and a dark space. Ideally, this activity uses two rooms or spaces: 1) a well-lit space for building light wands, and 2) a darkened room for taking photos of the lights in motion.
If you don’t have two separate spaces, you can start by making the wands and then darken the room to take photos.
In the well-lit room, arrange the craft and electronic supplies for building wands.
In the darkened room, set up one or more digital cameras on a tripod or table.
Adjust the camera settings. Adjust the camera settings so that the exposure remains open. The camera should remain steady and not move, so you will need to set the long exposure setting (sometimes labeled “shutter priority” or “bulb”) to longer settings (between 2 and 10 seconds).
Start by turning off the flash. Later, you can get some interesting effects if you turn the flash on again to get a pop of light to capture images of people.
Chibitronics Educators Guide
Chibitronics Paper Circuits STEAM Educator’s Guide is a FREE comprehensive guide to STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art and Math) learning with paper circuits!
This 185-page guide includes:
Overview and history of paper circuits, including materials, techniques and troubleshooting tips
Suggested learning standards
Resources on equitable teaching and collaboration in the classroom
7 detailed lesson sequences based on the Circuit Sticker Sketchbook in Part 1 Lessons
12 detailed lesson sequences based on Love to Code in Part 2 Lessons
6 Featured Projects: cross-curricular adaptable project inspirations
Printable templates for each lesson sequence
Throughout the guide, Chibitronics celebrates artists, educators, art techniques, and projects to showcase inspiring work in action. The arts are interwoven into each activity; STEM becomes a medium to ask and explore big questions about ourselves and the world, and nurture new forms of creativity!
Materials:
- LED Circuit Stickers (3, red)
- Coin Cell Battery
- Conductive Fabric Tape
- Chipboard (like from a cereal box)
- Colored felt (optional)
- Scissors
- Awl
- Glue Stick
- Printer to print template
