For the May 16th class I provided a paper circuit template from Sparkfun. The result seemed to be, in a nutshell, less fun. That is, less fun than in the previous week's class, for which I'd provided no templates. I would recommend templates only when the group of attendees is too large to permit one on one tutoring/coaching.
Paper circuits class
On Saturday, May 9, 2015, from noon to 2pm, I offered a "Fun with Paper Circuits!" workshop at Xerocraft. Three people, besides me, made paper circuits.
Materials were inexpensive: Packs of two 3V coin cells were $1 at Dollar Tree. A roll of 50 yards of aluminum foil tape was $7.88 at Home Depot. A bag of about 50 orange through-hole LEDs was $3 at Eliott's, although I got the last bulk bag and others will pay around $1-1.50 for 1-3 LEDs. I set out markers and paper too.
One boy (5th grader) made a paper circuit that was much like mine, then turned it into a Mothers' Day card. One boy (age 6) made a paper airplane with an orange LED in the nose and a red one at the tail. One woman drew a face with yarn hair and put an orange LED into each eye; in that case the circuitry was on the back side of the paper.
Some points that I had to repeat included:
1. The sticky side of the tape is not good for conducting electricity. Fold it over on itself and tape foil side to another strip's foil side.
2. The LED leads can break off if you bend them too sharply or too close to the body.
3. The two LED leads must not be connected to the same strip of foil tape
My demo piece (cover photo) featured a "KMKR" building and antenna tower topped by a light to keep aircraft from crashing into it.