JulieLeung.com: a life told in tidepools

The box has been in the house for months and yesterday I encouraged the girls to try making something with Snap Circuits. When the light bulb turned on, Abigail’s face lit up too. I didn’t think it would happen! She stared at it for a while, amazed. Soon the girls were all addicted to circuits. Abigail, with help of Michaela, assembled the next two examples in the book. Elisabeth didn’t want to take a nap and miss the rest. The motor spinning a fan was fun. When the switch was turned off, the red circle of fan sometimes decided to fly on its own, whirling a foot or two into the air once in Ted’s office. We all laughed. The girls, proud of their creations, wanted to show Ted, marching into his office, circuit board in hand. Abigail also made a circuit that played Happy Birthday with a whistle chip controlled by clapping or touch. Then Michaela wanted to make one by herself so I helped her. She did a short cut from her sister’s but it wasn’t a short circuit.

The Snap Circuit kit is great. We have another 98 experments to try. If I remember correctly, I have to thank Katherine for her recommendation. I wish the diagram book had more explanations describing the way electricity and circuits work. It’s been a while since I’ve studied them and I don’t remember making physical representations with light bulbs and sound, although I’m sure I did at least once or twice in my education. In a sense, these are my first circuits too. I’m enjoying learning along with my girls as we put the pieces together and make connections outside and inside ourselves. Soon we’ll have a veritable circuit city….