Scribd
Upload
143 views9 pages

Squishy Circuits Handout

Squishy Circuits is a trademark of sparkfun electronics, Inc. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. A gluten free version of this dough can be made by replacing the flour with gluten-free flour.

Uploaded by

api-300724981
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
143 views9 pages

Squishy Circuits Handout

Squishy Circuits is a trademark of sparkfun electronics, Inc. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. A gluten free version of this dough can be made by replacing the flour with gluten-free flour.

Uploaded by

api-300724981
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 9

Squishy Circuits

// Making Conductive Dough:


Materials:
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups flour (a gluten free version of this dough can be made by replacing the flour with gluten-free flour.)
1/4 cup salt
2 Tbsp. cream of tartar
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
Food coloring (optional)

2012 SparkFun Electronics, Inc. SparkFun Electronics Educational Materials are Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution -ShareAlike, CC BY-SA
SparkFun Electronics Squishy Circuits is a trademark of SparkFun Electronics, Inc. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
SparkFun Electronics Squishy Circuits Educational Material

squishy circuits //1

Squishy Circuits Worksheets v. 1.0

Name:
Date:

// Making Conductive Dough:


Procedure:
1) Mix water, 1 cup of flour, salt, cream of tartar, vegetable oil and food coloring in a medium sized pot.

2) Cook over medium heat and stir continuously.


3) The mixture will begin to boil and start to get chunky.

squishy circuits //2

Squishy Circuits Worksheets v. 1.0

Name:
Date:

// Making Conductive Dough:


4) Keep stirring the mixture until it forms a ball in the center of the pot.

5) Once the ball forms, place it on a lightly floured surface.


WARNING: The ball will be very hot. We suggest flattening it out and letting in cool for a couple of
minutes before handling.

squishy circuits //3

Squishy Circuits Worksheets v. 1.0

Name:
Date:

// Making Conductive Dough:


6) Slowly knead the remaining flour into the ball untill youve reached a desired consistency.

7) Store in an airtight container or plastic bag. While in the bag, water from the dough will create
condensation. This is normal. Just knead the dough after removing it from the bag, and it will be
as good as new. If stored properly, the dough should keep for several weeks.

squishy circuits //4

Squishy Circuits Worksheets v. 1.0

Name:
Date:

// Making Insulating Dough:


Materials:
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. granulated alum (optional - the alum helps preserve the dough.)
1/2 cup deionized (or distilled) water (regular tap water can be used, but the resistance of the dough will be lower.)

Procedure:
1) Mix solid ingredients and oil in a pot or large bowl, setting aside 1/2 cup flour to be used later.

squishy circuits //5

Squishy Circuits Worksheets v. 1.0

Name:
Date:

// Making Insulating Dough:


2) Mix with this mixture a small amount of deionized or distilled water (about 1 Tbsp.) and stir.
3) Repeat this step until the mixture absorbs a majority of the water.

4) Once your mixture is at this consistency below, knead the mixture into one lump.

squishy circuits //6

Squishy Circuits Worksheets v. 1.0

Name:
Date:

// Making Insulating Dough:


5) Knead more water into the dough until it has a sticky, dough-like texture.

6) Now, knead the remaining 1/2 cup of flour into the dough, until a desired texture is reached.

7) Store in an airtight container or plastic bag. While in the bag, water from the dough will create
condensation. This is normal. Just knead the dough after removing it from the bag, and it will be
as good as new. If stored properly, the dough should keep for several weeks.
WARNING: If you use deionized water do not let students eat the non-conductive playdough.
Deionized water is not good for your kidneys. Eating a little wont have an effect, but its
definitely not good for you. We suggest using distilled water to avoid this issue.

squishy circuits //7

Squishy Circuits Worksheets v. 1.0

Name:
Date:

// Making Squishy Circuits:


Materials for each group or child making circuits:
1) A power source of some type with a current value of less than .5A, we use a 9V battery
2) A battery connector with spades or probes at the end of the wires, regular wires do not have a large
enough surface area to create the necessary connection
3) Conductive playdough
4) Non-conductive playdough, although not strictly necessary non-conductive playdough is great for
separating the pieces of conductive playdough making it easier to create circuits without a short
5) 5 LEDs
6) Any additional components you want to create circuits with such as motors, photoresistors and buzzers
How to make the circuits:
1) If your battery connector doesnt have large contacts at the end of the wires you will need to attach
large contacts to the end of the wires. These can be either long metal probes or spades of some type.
2) Place your battery or batteries into the battery connector. Make sure you dont touch the battery
contacts on the ends of the wire to each other, as this will cause a short.
3) Distribute conductive and non-conductive playdough to the students. You will need more conductive
playdough than non-conductive. Students tend to like to work with more playdough, but a ball the size of
your fist is more than enough of either type.
4) Have the students divide the conductive playdough into two pieces and roll these pieces into cylinders no
thinner than one inch. Have them also roll the non-conductive playdough into a slightly thicker cylinder.
5) Place the non-conductive playdough cylinder between the two conductive playdough cylinders.
6) Push one battery contact into one of the conductive cylinders and push the other into the other conductive
cylinder. Make sure the two pieces of conductive playdough are not touching each other, as this will cause
a short. Your students now have power connected to one of your cylinders of conductive playdough, and a
ground connected to the other.
7) Handout multimeters if you have them and encourage your students to measure Voltage, Current and
Resistance. What kind of an effect does making the pieces of playdough longer or shorter have on these
values? What about thicker and thinner?
8) When you are done with Squishy Circuit make sure you clean off the metal parts of the components and
battery connectors with a damp paper towel because otherwise the salt will cause the contacts to corrode.

squishy circuits //8

Squishy Circuits Worksheets v. 1.0

Name:
Date:

// Making Squishy Circuits:


Here is the official Squishy Circuits website:
http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/apthomas/SquishyCircuits/buildingCircuits.htm
There are many other ways you can use conductive playdough. Here is our blog post about Squishy Circuits,
we like using a buzzer and a microcontroller to make a really annoying musical instrument:
http://www.sparkfun.com/news/626
If your playdough dries out you can add water to make it malleable again, just make sure you use distilled or
deionized water if you are adding water to the non-conductive playdough.

squishy circuits //9

You might also like