A paper circuit is an electronic circuit built on a paper surface, consisting of an LED sticker connected with copper tape and a watch battery and combines knowledge of electricity and polarity with some mental and physical dexterity. These are a fun and small maker project that won’t take a ton of storage, require only maybe 30-45 minutes to complete (depending on your project), and don't need a lot of extra equipment.
The Charleston County Main Branch has made Christmas cards with light up stars. I’ve seen schools use them to light paper mache letters to hang on the wall. Other uses include light-up origami, fine art like a glowing version of Van Gogh’s Starry Night, and in my case, poetry.
In our camp, we made lighted poems, either original works or poems chosen from our juvenile book collection. Some of the kids chose Shel Silverstein poems, some picked Kwame Alexander, even a Walter de la Mare. A few kids wrote their own poems, which was wonderful but did make for a much longer process for them. Each got three lights in yellow, blue and pink, two pieces of cardstock, a sharpie and stamps, and they could design what they liked. I had a variety of lino block “stamps,” such as light bulbs, snowflakes, trees, acorns, leaves, and such, or the kids could use sharpies, paints or gel pens.
As an example, here is a picture of my "City" poem, by Langston Hughes, with lino block streetscape prints and three lit circuits. It helped the campers to see how one was made, and truthfully, I like to test out projects before I teach them, especially with new technology.
Under your art piece, the copper tape is aligned with the Chibi lights, which I placed under my stars and windows. Each sticker has a tiny Y, P or B to indicate color, and an even tinier + or – to match to your tape and battery. A small piece of paper folded and glued was marked with + or – too, to avoid confusion. When the battery is placed, you simply fold the paper shut over the battery, and voila! Let there be light! Outside vendors on Chibitronics and Amazon offer sticky tabs for this, or even "push me" stickers.
Chibitrobics makes a tidy starter package for $30 that comes with templates, 16-feet of copper wire, 12 sticker lights and two batteries. However, for that same price, you can buy 30 stickers, and then buy a 55 yards of ¼ inch copper tape from the hardware store for $12, and ten CR2032 batteries for $10. There are plenty of tutorials online, so the templates are not really necessary. Chibitronics offers classroom packs of 90 circuit stickers for $110.
Chibitronics also offers a Love to Code (LTC) system for $30 that uses a Chibi Chip to make the LED stickers blink and fade. Students can add interactivity to greetings cards and classroom projects by connecting switches and sensors to the Chibi Chip using Microsoft’s MakeCode Editor, or by writing Arduino-style computer code using Chibitronics’ LTC Editor. Here is a video example of what this looks like with a tree of origami flowers.
Here is a really simple slide show on how paper circuits work by a wonderful maker librarian in Texas, Michelle Cooper. I’ve taken a webinar of hers, and she is full of great ideas. I like how paper circuits would be easy and relatively inexpensive compared to larger robotics or 3D printing projects for a smaller maker space, a maker station or a classroom project. It's a pretty versatile little tool with valid science concepts that aren't too complicated for multiple age groups. It would be great for art, science, math, and language arts, or just for fun around the holidays. Sure, there are maker projects that offer more in depth and collaborative learning, but this is a super cool product that gets kids really fired up and creative.
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