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Playdough For Fun and Profit
morgan_greywolf writes with this snippet from Wired:"You're never too young (or too old) to start learning the joys of electronics. You don't need to know how to solder, or even how to plug circuit components into a breadboard. As long as you're past the 'I'm going to stick this up my nose' phase, this homemade playdough circuit project is a great way to introduce kiddos and adults alike to basic circuits and electricity."
useful, cool, geeky and pro-learning and DIY. great.
Buanzo Consulting - 15 Years of GNU/Linux experience, for you.
Everyone knows that !!
My son (7) has been playing around all day with parts from a gutted (hacked) Hess truck. Play dough electrical connectors are just perfect for him now! Thanks, OP.
Everything and its opposite is true. Get used to it.
Obviously Playdoh is dangerous to our children. I heard about Playdoh electrocutions, and this is now proof.
Now this is some that if left in the open will look alot more bomb / C4 like then the Aqua Teen Hunger Force ad's.
I used to rip apart all toys and wire up motors, blinken lights and stuff using clay. (I used clay to keep the connections in place)
Beware of birds !
If you like this, you may enjoy the TED talk video about it: http://www.ted.com/talks/annmarie_thomas_squishy_circuits.html
Needs P and N type dough!
They're cheap, don't make a mess, don't dry out, and probably conduct better too.
My niece is turning four soon, anybody think that is too young for this? She does love play dough.
"UNIX is very simple, it just needs a genius to understand its simplicity." -Dennis Ritchie
..breadboarding, with bread dough. When I first saw the pics, I thought they had found a way to simulate semi-conductor doping with the different colored dough.
Not at all. I started doing kitchen experiments with my daughter when she was 3. Once she gets how one conducts and the other doesn't, she'll be able to try different combinations and see how the current moves, degrades, etc. She may not learn the technology, but a four year old's ability to learn through experience is incredible. Don't forget, she learned English in less than two years using observation alone.
would it kill you fucks to use google?
I'll make you a deal: I'll start using Google to filter submissions if you start using even a token amount of civility.
Not at all. I started doing kitchen experiments with my daughter when she was 3. Once she gets how one conducts and the other doesn't, she'll be able to try different combinations and see how the current moves, degrades, etc. She may not learn the technology, but a four year old's ability to learn through experience is incredible. Don't forget, she learned English in less than two years using observation alone.
oops... I meant to say, she may not learn the terminology
As long as you're past the 'I'm going to stick this up my nose' phase
It's narrow minded people like you that hold back scientific progress, the smelloscope is a fantastic invention.
Ah but is it possible to make semi-conductor playdough?
That would really be useful in learning basic semiconductor theory.
That an Egyptian can fix a bad joint on a laptop. Americans are going to be banned from selling laptops with loose power adapters (the number one cause of failure of several Dell and Lenovo and other models) under legislation introduced by Green-Thompson "ewaste". Only "tested working" electronics can be resold. Vermont now bans sale between Vermonters without a hazardous waste permit. We know the issue is the adapter plug (people carry the laptop around with the plug inserted, and it breaks the solder). But it is about to be made illegal to sell laptops etc. for repair, even if the Egyptian/Indonesian/Peruvian knows schematic diagrams AND is also more than 4 years old(!). Maybe if we make laptops out of play-dough, they will be considered less "hazardous", though currently even play-dough laptops are covered by Vermont E-waste law. Imagine this applied to cars - if it doesn't pass inspection, it's haz waste, moon suit tow trucks.
Gently reply
Oh great. Just wait till the TSA hears about THAT....
Huh?
Good luck on that.
It makes me sad to read the following snippet from the article:
Now a bunch of kids are going to go through life thinking that current gets used up as it goes through the circuit. The same current will be flowing through every component of the circuit; it's only got one path, after all.
Don't get me wrong, I love this article and I'm probably going to try this with my kids, too. It's just that I'm going to teach them Kirchoff's laws while I'm at it.
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
Can't make a zero-resistance connection; this is going to constrain things quite a bit. But as a stepping stone to get kids interested, it's great!
My introduction to electronics back in the day was a Radio Shack "65-In-One" electronics project kit. Bunch of discrete components, meter, speaker, photocell, electromagnetic relay, etc. with spring clips that allowed for easy interconnection. It's sad that this sort of thing is no longer widely available.
Instead of making dough, you could use potato pieces. Easier and less messy.
How is it better/easier to use/more educational than a breadboard?
I think my father made me some LEGO bricks with LEDs and lamps when i was four and i remember that i was very fascinated by the fact that some devices which have a polarity, and some don't. I for sure expressed that in another way, but testing how to attach the red/black wires to batteries to make the LEDs shine kept me busy and quiet for some time. And my development was completely average.
My theory is: give children many kinds of toys. You will figure out if its to early if they don't play with it.
It depends on the kid. My oldest would have been five before she would grasp it (she's learning disabled), my youngest could have handled it at two (she's gifted).
Free Martian Whores!
I found it interesting. Just because you've seen a similar article doen't mean everybody has. I see you were modded flamebait, if I were moderating today your comment would be at a -1.
Bad comment! Bad bad bad! *swats comment on nose with rolled up newspaper*
Free Martian Whores!
it already is -1 dink, and I thought this was a news site, not the same old shit everyone else it reposting site
If I stick the conductive playdough in each nostril and use it as a circuit, would my nose be conductive or insulating? I guess it would depend on how much conductivity the playdough has or how much power I'm using. If I use AC, would my nose's capacitance be a factor? I'll let you all know.
Kids are all so different that it's hard for anyone but you (and her parents of course!) to answer that question. I say just give it a shot under extra-close supervision and see what happens, you can always put it away if you think she's not ready.
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
If you haven't seen it before it's news. And, are book reviews news? Nope. Yes, this is news for nerds, but not all stuff that matters is news. If you don't like a topic, ignore it, there are lots more where they came from.
If you'd worded you comment like below you would have been modded up:
+3 informative.
It makes no sense to word a comment is such a way that it's sure to be at a -1. If nobody is going to see it, why comment at all?
Now get off my lawn, kid. Sheesh.
Free Martian Whores!
This is USELESS!!!
They don't explain how to make positive/negative doped PlayDough. How the hell do they expect us to create PN-junctions? No amplifiers, no digital logic, this is totally, totally useless.