Mai Lesson

Make a Light-Up Christmas Card

Engineering · 45 min · Any age · You and your child together

Challenge your family to create a festive Christmas card that lights up with a simple paper circuit. Discover how electricity travels and makes a light glow, then apply your knowledge to design and build a unique, interactive holiday greeting. The grown-up must handle the coin battery throughout the activity, as they are very dangerous if swallowed.

What your child gets out of it

• Identify the basic components of a simple electrical circuit.
• Construct a functional paper circuit to light an LED.
• Troubleshoot common issues in a circuit to achieve a desired outcome.

What you need

• Small LED (Light Emitting Diode) — This is the only Spark that needs a few things from a store: an LED, copper tape and a coin battery. Use a small craft LED with two legs, one longer than the other.
• Coin battery (CR2032 or similar) — The grown-up must handle this item at all times. Keep spares safely out of reach of children. Throw used coin batteries away with the grown-up, never in a bin the child can reach. If you think a battery was swallowed, go to the emergency room right away. Call the National Battery Ingestion Hotline at 800-498-8666 or Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222.
• Copper tape with conductive adhesive — Copper tape is ideal, but thin strips of aluminum foil can work if glued down carefully to ensure continuous contact. (or Aluminum foil strips with glue, Conductive fabric tape)
• Cardstock or construction paper — Choose a sturdy paper that can be folded without tearing easily, preferably white or light-colored for drawing. (or Thick paper, Folded printer paper)
• Scissors
• Clear tape or double-sided tape — To secure components or foil strips if not using conductive adhesive tape. (or Glue stick, Washi tape)
• Markers, crayons or colored pencils — For decorating the Christmas card.

How it runs

1. Light-Up Christmas Fun · 5 min
2. Circuit Sneak Peek · 10 min
3. What Makes It Light? · 10 min
4. Build Your Light-Up Card · 15 min
5. Share Your Spark! · 5 min