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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:

HeartSpinnerTemplate

See More Projects in these topics:

Arts & Crafts Electronics Paper Crafts STEM or STEAM

See More Projects from these themes:

Art/Craft Studio Carnival/Theme Park The Shop (Makerspace)
Chibitronics
Chibitronics blends circuit building and programming with arts and crafts. We make circuit stickers and other tools for educators, artists and crafters so everyone can create and design their own expressive electronics.
Print Project

Maker Camp Project Standards

Based on NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards)

National Core Arts Standards

The National Core Arts Standards are a process that guides educators in providing a unified quality arts education for students in Pre-K through high school. These standards provide goals for Dance, Media Arts, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts with cross-cutting anchors in Creating, Performing, Responding, and Connecting through art. The Anchor Standards include:
  1. Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
  2. Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.
  3. Refine and complete artistic work.
  4. Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation.
  5. Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.
  6. Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.
  7. Perceive and analyze artistic work.
  8. Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.
  9. Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work.
  10. Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art.
  11. Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding.
Please visit the website for specific details on how each anchor applies to each discipline.

NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards)

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are K–12 science content standards. Learn more.

Forces and Motion

  • 3-PS2-3. Ask questions to determine cause and effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions between two objects not in contact with each other.
  • HS-PS4-5. Communicate technical information about how some technological devices use the principles of wave behavior and wave interactions with matter to transmit and capture information and energy.

National Core Arts Standards

The National Core Arts Standards are a process that guides educators in providing a unified quality arts education for students in Pre-K through high school. Also see Standards with cross-cutting anchors in Creating, Performing, Responding, and Connecting through art for Visual Arts.

ISTE Standards (International Society for Technology in Education)

The ISTE Standards provide the competencies for learning, teaching and leading in the digital age, providing a comprehensive roadmap for the effective use of technology in schools worldwide.

1.1 Empowered Learner

  • Summary: Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving, and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences.
  • 1.1.a Students articulate and set personal learning goals, develop strategies leveraging technology to achieve them and reflect on the learning process itself to improve learning outcomes.
  • 1.1.b Students build networks and customize their learning environments in ways that support the learning process.
  • 1.1.c Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.
  • 1.1.d Students understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations, demonstrate the ability to choose, use and troubleshoot current technologies and are able to transfer their knowledge to explore emerging technologies.

1.2 Digital Citizen

  • Summary: Students recognize the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal and ethical.
  • 1.2.a Students cultivate and manage their digital identity and reputation and are aware of the permanence of their actions in the digital world.
  • 1.2.b Students engage in positive, safe, legal and ethical behavior when using technology, including social interactions online or when using networked devices.
  • 1.2.c Students demonstrate an understanding of and respect for the rights and obligations of using and sharing intellectual property.
  • 1.2.d Students manage their personal data to maintain digital privacy and security and are aware of data-collection technology used to track their navigation online.

1.3 Knowledge Constructor

  • Summary: Students critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others.
  • 1.3.a Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.
  • 1.3.b Students evaluate the accuracy, perspective, credibility and relevance of information, media, data or other resources.
  • 1.3.c Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions.
  • 1.3.d Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems, developing ideas and theories and pursuing answers and solutions.

1.4 Innovative Designer

  • Summary: Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.
  • 1.4.a Students know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts or solving authentic problems.
  • 1.4.b Students select and use digital tools to plan and manage a design process that considers design constraints and calculated risks.
  • 1.4.c Students develop, test and refine prototypes as part of a cyclical design process.
  • 1.4.d Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.

1.5 Computational Thinker

  • Summary: Students develop and employ strategies for understanding and solving problems in ways that leverage the power of technological methods to develop and test solutions.
  • 1.5.a Students formulate problem definitions suited for technology-assisted methods such as data analysis, abstract models and algorithmic thinking in exploring and finding solutions.
  • 1.5.b Students collect data or identify relevant data sets, use digital tools to analyze them, and represent data in various ways to facilitate problem-solving and decision-making.
  • 1.5.c Students break problems into component parts, extract key information, and develop descriptive models to understand complex systems or facilitate problem-solving.
  • 1.5.d Students understand how automation works and use algorithmic thinking to develop a sequence of steps to create and test automated solutions.

NGSS MS.Engineering Design

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are K–12 science content standards.
  • MS-ETS1-1. Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
  • MS-ETS1-2. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
  • MS-ETS1-3. Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.
  • MS-ETS1-4. Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.
For additional information on using content standards with our projects please visit the Maker Camp Playbook.

NGSS HS.Engineering Design

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are K–12 science content standards.
  • HS-ETS1-1. Analyze a major global challenge to specify qualitative and quantitative criteria and constraints for solutions that account for societal needs and wants.
  • HS-ETS1-2. Design a solution to a complex real-world problem by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable problems that can be solved through engineering.
  • HS-ETS1-3. Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
  • HS-ETS1-4. Use a computer simulation to model the impact of proposed solutions to a complex real-world problem with numerous criteria and constraints on interactions within and between systems relevant to the problem.
For additional information on using content standards with our projects please visit the Maker Camp Playbook.

NGSS 3-5.Engineering Design

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are K–12 science content standards.
  • 3-5-ETS1-1. Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
  • 3-5-ETS1-2. Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
  • 3-5-ETS1-3. Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.
For additional information on using content standards with our projects please visit the Maker Camp Playbook.
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