Can You Create An LED Patriotic Wind Sock Using Brown Dog Gadgets?
Brown Dog Gadgets wants to inspire students to learn the basics of electronics and circuitry on any budget. For this STEM challenge, students will use Brown Dog Gadgets to create a LED Patriotic Windsock that symbolizes the American Flag to show their patriotism on Independence Day.
What you need per student...
- The book Stars and Stripes: The Story of the American Flag by Sarah L. Thomson (One book can be used as a read aloud if working with a group of students)
- Patriotism Video: Kindness 101 with Steve Hartman: Patriotism
- Brown Dog Gadgets Paper Circuits Classroom Kit (the number of kits will depend on the number of students that you are working with and how many LED lights you wish to give them to work with)
- Can You Create An LED Patriotic Wind Sock Using Brown Dog Gadgets? Creator Sheet
- Windsock Images for example
- Blue Glitter Cardstock paper (any blue cardstock can be substituted) cut in half longways (1 piece per student)
- Toilet paper roll, Pringles can, or similar empty item to be recycled for the round top of the windsock
- Red Ribbon
- White Ribbon
- 3 foot piece of Twine or String for hanging
- ⅛ Whole puncher
- Scissors
- Glue
What you need to do...
- Start by having students read the book Stars and Stripes: The Story of the American Flag by Sarah L. Thomson or read the book aloud if to a group.
- Show the video Kindness 101 with Steve Hartman: Patriotism or have students watch it independently.
- Tell students that the objective of this challenge is to make a windsock that symbolizes the American flag and shows off their patriotism.
- Students will begin brainstorming how they want to build their fort
- Make sure students are considering the number of stars and stripes on the flag and how this can best be scaled down while still showing the best correlation to the actual flag. For example, they might use 5 stars since this is a multiple that could represent the 50 stars found on the actual flag.
- Students will then begin to sketch out a design to mesh all of their ideas together
- Remember to consider that the windsock will be blowing in the wind and therefore needs to be sturdy enough to withstand.
- Once the student has finalized their design ideas and they have decided on the materials and number of LEDs and their colors to use it is time to gather their supplies and get started!
- First, on your creator sheet write down any issues you think might arise as you are building your windsock.
- After students have finished, they should examine their windsock and make notes on what pieces need to be adjusted, IF given the opportunity to make a new windsock.
We would love to see you try this STEM Challenge. Share your results with us through social media!
Happy Making,
Maker Maven