Rachel and Jim made up some very skinny surface mount LED/resistor strips that fit between Lego posts for a STEM camp Rachel is running.

A simple pattern was etched on flexible copperclad Kapton film, using vinyl from the vinyl cutter as resist.  Solder paste blobs and the tiny 0805 components were hand placed, then reflow soldered on the hot plate.  Here are some ready to be sliced apart.  The resulting glowing Gummi bears were a big hit with the kids!

Campers beta-tested Rachel’s Conducty Inventing Kit during a week-long Spring Break camp at Moore Toys and Gadgets in Wheaton. They built circuits directly on LEGO baseplates using conductive tape and components designed to fit between the LEGO studs. Kids lit up everything from Minecraft torches to outdoor campfires made of LEGO. Here, Cooper and Ella show off their creations.  The Conducty LED Inventing Kit will be launching on Kickstarter later this Spring.