Fun Friday: Electricity

Last Friday we ended up with a huge crowd for Fun Friday with a STEM focus on electricity! I had a few kids start the program complaining they didn’t want to do science. But, I like to think we do science in a much more fun and interactive way than the kids are used to in school.

Lesson Plan

We started off the program by reading Night Light by Nicholas Blechman. With the cutouts and guessing the transportation vehicles, the kids had a great time. They guessed a lot of them correctly too! I was honestly worried the book would be a little young for grades 1 – 4, but it worked out great!

Lemon Powered Light

After our book sharing, we got started right away making a lemon battery-powered light. I was super hesitant about trying this, I didn’t check the experiment beforehand, so when we started I explained how sometimes experiments don’t always turn out the way we want them to, but we were all excited when the lemons powered the little LED lightbulb! Unfortunately, I didn’t have the funds to secure enough lemons for everyone, although many wanted a chance to try it themselves, or just a chance to eat a slice of lemon! We talked about how the electricity traveled through the lemons and what happens when the circuit was broken, which led perfectly to our next activity. If you’re interested in trying this experiment too, check out Steve Spangler’s website.

Human Circuit

After our lemon battery, we created a human circuit using this really cool energy stick from Steve Spangler. Be forewarned – they are very fragile and will become disconnected very easily if the kids shake them. We all held hands in a circle and the energy wand lit up and made some cool sounds. Then I gave each kid the chance to hold it as well.

Balloons

Finally, what’s a lesson on electricity without balloons? I had already blown up enough balloons for the programs and had also gathered some tissue paper, crepe paper, confetti, and different crafty supplies to test. The kids got right to work creating static electricity and testing the materials.

I think all the kids had a great time and hopefully learned something too!