Phases
1.Dividing the students into groups
2.Activity Introduction
3.Group Work
4.Product Presentation
Materials
•Conductive tape
•Conductive thread
TIP: This is just like an ordinary thread but it has a metal wound-in conductive thread which acts like a wire. Electricity will go anywhere where two pieces touch.
•Needle nose pliers
•Round nose pliers
•Sew on battery holder
•Coin cell batteries
•LEDs
TIP: Unlike an incandescent bulb, LEDs have coin cell batteries. They have a positive and negative orientation. When you attach them to the battery the positive leg needs to touch the positive side of the battery, and vice versa.
General Materials
•Fabric glue (optional)
•Stuffing
•Needles
•Thread
•Pincushion
•Scissors
•Buttons
•Felt
•Sharpies and pens
Procedure
1.Layout the circuit on your piece of fabric. Think about where you want to place your battery holder and your LED.
2.Prep your LED to make it a
sewable component. Test your LED by placing one leg on either side of the coin
cell battery. You might notice that the LED works when oriented one way on the battery but not the other one. When lit, mark the leg that is touching the positive (smooth) side of the battery with a sharpie.
3.You can make the LED sewable by using jewelry pliers to curl it into a circle. Pinch the end of the LED leg in the pliers. Turn the pliers away from you to begin curling the leg. Before you loop around both tips of the pliers, pause, open the pliers and rotate them back, then repeat the first two steps. Continue turning until you reach the LED. Now, set aside your LED and grab your needle and conductive thread.
4.Sew one side of the battery holder onto the fabric. Make sure your needle is small enough to fit through the hole in the battery holder. Once one side is in place, sew away from the battery pack towards the place where you want to connect one leg of your LED.
5.When you’ve stitched to the place where your LED will go, grab your prepped LED to sew it on. If you started by sewing on the negative side of the battery pack, you’ll want to sew on the negative leg of the LED (and vice versa). Loop the thread around the LED leg several times to secure it (just like you did with the battery pack). Tie a knot and snip off the excess thread. Set aside your LED for now and grab your needle and conductive thread.