Want to make your own playdough and learn about electricity at the same time? Then make a batch of electro-dough and build your own circuit!
For this activity, you’ll get to experiment with electricity and LEDs, using playdough as a conductive material.
You will need
For the dough:
• 1 cup of water
• 1 ½ cup of flour
• ¼ cup of salt
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• Food colouring
• 3 tbsp cream of tartar (or 9 tbsp lemon juice)
For the circuit:
• Wires
• Batteries
• LEDs
Steps
1. To make the dough, combine the water, 1 cup of flour, salt, oil, food colouring and cream of tartar in a pot, and stir continuously on medium heat. Once a ball forms in the pot, place it on a lightly floured surface and leave to cool for a couple of minutes. Knead the ball until it’s suitably doughy!
2. Next, get mum or dad to show you how the conductive dough works, and how to create a basic circuit with batteries, wires and LEDs.
3. Now it’s your turn! You can create all kinds of crazy circuits with playdough of different shapes, sizes and colours. Play and experiment until you’ve made the best circuit possible! Remember: LEDs should not be connected directly to batteries. Make sure you put the playdough between the batteries and the LEDs in the circuit, to ensure they don’t overheat or pop!
