Last Saturday I taught a class called "Blinky Bugs" to a group of 9-12 year olds. The class was three hours long with a 15 minute break, and a 10 minute clean up. "Blinky Bugs" are small basic circuits made out of a guitar string, a button battery, and two LEDs. Then you add detail to your circuit to make it look more buggy. When it's all made, the guitar strings move around in the wind, touching up against the LED arms,completing the circuit, and lighting up the LEDs!

The idea for making bugs was inspired by making scribble machines and seeing how creative kids are with just a battery and a motor. This was a day long camp with 7 & 8 yr. olds. The first half of the day, observations of bugs using microscopes and creating scientific illustrations led to choosing your favorite bug attributes and inventing your own bug.