We've done several variations on this workshop, but here's how
we described one of them at the Science Museum:
City Lights, Twinkling Lights : Creating with Crickets
Play with Light! Explore light and color with interactive tools
and cool materials. Make a tiny nightlight that glows,
blinks, and changes color. Contribute your nightlight to a glowing
landscape of twinkling lights.
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Goals of the Workshop
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- Experiment with lights and a variety of crafts materials to
see what the possiblities are
- Learn how you can use programming to make even a single light
do many things
- Design and program something interesting that incorporates sensors,
light, and physical materials.
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Materials
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- Computers
- Crickets
- LEDs and wires, as well as switches, sensors, and motors
- Shiny and translucent craft & recycled materials: straws,
mylar, plastic portion (or nut) cups, reflective contact paper,
tinsel, glitter, beads, etc.
- Tape, glue, cable ties, string
- Low-temperature hot melt glue
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Set Up
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The craft materials are on the long counter on the far wall. We
used two freestanding tables, one with four computers and the other
with two, as work tables. (We were planning for up to 8 people in
this workshop.) |
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At each work spot, we had a laptop with a cricket and interface
(PICO beam), and printout of a simple sample program, and a few craft
materials (pencils, pens, scissors, some glittery paper). |
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We also set two chairs at each computer. We gave participants the
option of working alone or in pairs. And it is handy to have extra
chairs available when you sit to talk with someone about what they're
working on. |
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We also set up a hot-glue station immediately adjacent to the work
tables, so you didn't have to carry your sculpture far if you needed
to glue something. |
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The materials table held all kinds of supplies, roughly grouped:
construction stuff (like wood scraps, cardboard, foam core) were together;
shiny and reflective stuff was together. We also had a small selection
of some useful LEGO pieces, and a cutting station with a utility knife
and a cutting mat. |
Introduction
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I led a basic introduction to the Crickets and to programming for
the whole group. We used a laptop with a projector so the whole group
could see the program as I created it. |
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We wrote a simple program as a group. We began by turning on a light,
then we changed the color of the light, then we figured out how to
switch between two colors. Our program looked something like this
one. |
Working & Playing
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Happily, the tables did not stay neat for long. We really wanted
the participants to play with the lights, and to experiment both with
the programming and with how to use the art & craft materials
with the LEDs. |
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This project made great use of the materials: the styrofoam balls
were lit by the LEDs from the inside. (You can just see that the ball
on the right is glowing pink...) |
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We also used mirrors, pieces of tumbled glass, and other materials
that intensified the appearance of the lights. |
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In the workshops with artists, participants were interested in experimenting
with the sensors. Here, two artists use a light sensor to control
a light, a sound, and a motor. |
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This is a self-illumination book: when you open it, the lights turns
on. |
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Workshop participants learn from each other. I showed one group
how to make the Crickets communicate, and this artist set up a group
of three Crickets that communicated.
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At the end of each workshop, we took some time to go around the
room and see what people made. |
Other Thoughts &
Reflections
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We have also tried versions of the light workshop for drop-in
museum visitors in the galleries.
For this event, we set up a table with three laptops, crickets,
lights, and some sample programs. |
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Here's what each work spot looked like. We had a few reflective
and colorful materials to play with, but not many. |
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We printed out some sample programs and had them out on the tables.
We thought these would give people walking up an idea of what was
happening at these tables.
You can download pdf's of each of our handouts:
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Programming lights worked well as a drop-in workshop activity.
The lights are appealing and it is easy to see how changes in the
program change the lights. People grasp the programming pretty quicky,
and can do many things with just one or two lights.
What I didn't like about this particular drop-in workshop: We had
very few materials out, and visitors didn't do much with the materials.
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In our second drop-in light workshop, we put much more of an emphasis
on materials and making. We still had tables and computers for programming,
but we had nightlights on those tables to try... |
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and we set up a long counter space with a "nightlight landscape"
of tinsel and Mylar with Cricket-controlled nightlights to try... |
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and a big table with lots of materials (including bulbs and batteries)
where you could make a nightlight. The mix of activities - playing
with lights and materials and programming lights - worked well. |
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printable version ) 