After learning about circuits, we moved on to making bristle bots. I purchased a small kit from MakerShed, but quickly realized that this was an expensive approach to working with a group. The kit also felt too prescribed. A goal of our sessions was to have kids innovate--I needed something a little more open-ended.
After buying one of every electric toothbrush at the dollar store, I found a brand where the motor had enough of a lead that we wouldn't need to do any soldering to attach a battery. The kids now had a challenge to turn a toothbrush into a bot. They had a blast and I had a blast watching them as they investigated > designed > troubleshooted > and re-designed.
Materials:
Electric Toothbrushes, scrub brushes
Electrical tape
Wire
Wire cutters & strippers
Decorative items such as pipe cleaners and stickers.
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