Electricity and Circuits Unit
If you are looking for a fun, hands-on unit, you might want to check out our Electricity and Circuits Unit! It includes notebook pages and worksheets about electrical currents, conductors, simple circuits, electrical symbols and more. My kids loved this unit because of all the hands-on activity ideas!
We did this when my son was 12 or 13 (and my other two were 10 and 8). Then I did it again with my youngest when she was 12. 🙂 This unit works fine with the younger kids because they love the hands-on activities.
We did this right after the Properties of Matter unit (though these are self -contained units so it’s not necessary.)
This is such a fun unit because the kids can build so many different projects!
In the first part of this unit we went over
- The parts of an atom
- Electric currents
- Conductors and insulators
- Parts of a light bulb
- Batteries
We then spent several days, making various circuits! There are a half-dozen activity ideas (with photos) included in the packet.
One of the first activities we did was a graphing activities. ED had to test all the mini-LED lights and graph them by color.
Then she went on to try building more complicated circuits.
In addition to the mini-LED lights and lithium coin batteries, you can use all kinds of materials from copper tape (1 roll is plenty for a family) to alligator clips and conductive thread! (affiliate links)
The Electricity & Circuits Packet also covers these topics:
- Volts, amps, ohms
- Electrical circuits: Power source, load, conductor
- Simple Circuits
- Direct and Alternating Current (DC and AC)
- Resistance, Resistors and How they work.
- Anode, cathode
- Electrical Symbols
- Open and closed circuits
- Short circuits
Squishy Circuits
The kids had a lot of fun when we talked about conductors & insulators because we made our own conductive and insulating play dough!
Here’s ED’s Squishy Circuit… an Anglerfish!
I added in a new worksheet and sorting cards on conductors & insulators. (See pictures below.)
Plus, I included various activity ideas as well as the recipes for making your own conductive and insulating dough. You can use commercial Play-doh (for the conductive dough).
Be sure to purchase a 3 or 4-battery holder or a 9-volt clip so there’s enough power for your bulbs to glow well! This set has 1- , 2- , 3- and 4-battery holders at a good price. (affiliate links)
This was a squishy circuit ED and her friend made together! Pretty, right?!
Art Bot:
This is another really fun hands-on activity! This packet includes instructions on how to make an art bot or visit this post. That’s super fun!
You’ll need to purchase a mini-motor, but you might consider getting this mini-motor kit because it comes with accessories like switches and propellers and it isn’t that much more than purchasing the mini-motors on their own. (affiliate link)
As I said above, this set has 1- , 2- , 3- and 4-battery holders at a good price. (affiliate link)
Here are some other pictures from this unit: 
Note: If you purchased this packet or the Chemistry BUNDLE previously, be sure to check your PayPal email address for the update (which will have your download link) or contact me and I’ll get that for you! ~Liesl
The Electricty & Circuits Packet is now close to 50-pages. It is also included in our Chemistry BUNDLE.
Electricity and Circuits STEM Unit
$6.99
Be sure to check your PayPal email address for the download link!
Remember, the Electricity & Circuits Unit is included in the Chemistry BUNDLE.
See more details about the Chemistry BUNDLE/S here:
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links in this post and in the packet above are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.
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~Liesl
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Happy Homeschooling! ~Liesl
Looks fantastic! Thanks for sharing. Would this electricity unit be too hard for a clever 7yo to understand?
Hi Kath,
This packet starts out with a very basic description of atoms (protons, electrons, neutrons)… but I think you 7yo would be fine with the basics. My youngest was probably around 7 or so when we did this unit the first time and really *loved* all the hands-on activities… making the LED lights glow, finding conductive and non-conductive materials, creating the art bots and all that… I think it would be just fine for your 7yo because it’s so hands on. My youngest just did this unit again this past year again as a 12 yo and she definitely had a better understanding of the material, but enjoyed it both times. 🙂
That tends to be how we’ve done science as homeschoolers. We’ll cover things with a ton of hands-on activities when they were younger and then cover it again in more depth when they were older. We’ve done the Earth Science materials three times along the homeschool journey for that reason! 🙂 As younger students they just love (and remember!!) all the hands-on activities and then they really *get it* on a deeper level when they are older.
Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.
~Liesl