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DIY Solar Powered Cockroach Toy Is A Perfect Kids’ Project
Photo by Joshua Zimmerman/Brown Dog Gadgets
DIY Solar Powered Cockroach Toy Is A Perfect Kids’ Project
HERE by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California 10.17.11
From the same maker who brought us the $3 solar emergency radio, and the DIY solar battery chargers for cell phones and iPhones, comes a fun toy project that is a perfect way to get kids started in learning how electronics and power from sunlight work. It might also be a great project to get us adults started in tinkering with gadgets if we haven’t had much practice.
Check out how cute these toys are:
They look like a great project for a teacher to bring into the classroom. All sorts of educational elements are there — how solar power can provide energy, putting together electronic components, and of course, glue sticks!
This Instructable lists as supplies and tools:
Supplies: 1x 2V Solar Cell 1x Vibrating Pager Motor 1X Resistor or diode, or other bits of scrap wire. 2x Big Paper Clip 2x Googly Eyes Magnet Wire Tools: Soldering Iron Solder Hot Glue Gun Wire Cutters Helping Hand – (Optional, but really… handy)
Zimmerman also notes that you can find folks selling the solar cells in bulk on eBay, making it even easier to do a bunch of these as a project. Or you can just get kits from Brown Dog Gadgets.
He also provides a rundown of which vibrating motors work best, showing that there’s quite a variety to choose from so you’ll want to understand the basics of what you’re looking for.
The steps are straight-forward.
First, cut the resistor legs and keep the legs. Attach the legs of the resistor to the motor, then the motor to the solar cell. Add legs to your cockroach (yay, paperclips!) and a couple of eyeballs, and Voila! Bug goodness.
Zimmerman, of course, provides quite detailed instructions over on Instructables.
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