Make Holiday Projects React to Light A light sensor can add interactivity to your artwork by making it react to the presence or absence of light. In this post, I’ll show you how to use a Light Sensor Sticker to make a light-sensing tree with Chibitronics Launchpad LEDs. We’ll add a bit of light-reactive magic […]
Educator & Lesson Spotlight: Paper Circuit Puppets with Felicia Brooks
Spotlight on Felicia Brooks Working in three dimensions — to create a puppet with students — would be a challenge any day of the week! But, in today’s post, you’ll meet a bold, innovative educator who is no stranger to a challenge! We met middle school art educator, Felicia Brooks, during our Summer Pathfinders course […]
Power Boost: How to Place Launchpad Batteries in Series
Like Beads on a String Did you know that it’s possible to connect two or more Launchpad Batteries together, like beads on a string, to boost their power within a circuit? Novel in design, our 3V CR2032 Launchpad Battery is a safer, more learner-friendly option than traditional coin batteries! Besides making our Launchpad Battery harder […]
Congrats to the Chibitronics #LightUpPopUpTober Team!
Contest & Gallery Update During October, Chibitronics and members of our #LightUpPopUpTober team participated in a global PopUpTober challenge. Collectively, our team created a remarkable body of glowing work, featuring 31 different pop-up mechanisms! We are so grateful to our talented team of volunteers for sharing their time, talent, and creativity with us! If you’d […]
How to Use Chibitronics Resistor Stickers
Speedbumps for Electricity Did you know that different colors of LEDs require different amounts of power to turn on? This is especially true for bare through-hole LEDs (the ones with legs). In this post, you’ll learn how to use Chibitronics NEW Resistor Stickers to act as speedbumps to slow down the flow of electricity in […]
PopUpTober Tutorial: Light-Up Bird Made with 45° Folds on a Parallelogram (Featuring Chibitronics)
Video Tutorial In this video tutorial, created in anticipation of #PopUpTober 2025, I’ll show you a way to create a light-up pop-up bird with wings that tuck into a parallelogram at 45° angles. The folding mechanism provides a dynamic surface that is useful for adding a protrusion or extension that may be adorned with lights. […]
PopUpTober Tutorial: Parallelogram With OR Switch Featuring Chibitronics
View Video Tutorial: In this video tutorial, created in anticipation of #PopUpTober 2025, I’ll show you a way to create a light-up pop-up structure based upon a parallelogram. The pop-up parallelogram provides a flat surface that is useful for adding lights, scenery, and props to add dimension to a story. When the card is opened […]
Chibitronics Lights Up #PopUpTober 2025!
Get Ready for #PopUpTober! Find #PopUpTober Information & Inspiration For a quick reference, please visit our #LightUpPopUpTober resource page, which we’ll be updating during the months of September and October. There, you’ll find the daily prompts, tutorials, templates, and plenty of light-up pop-up inspiration to help you get started with your own creations! What is […]
Introducing NEW Chibitronics Launchpad LEDs!
We’re Launching a NEW, STURDIER LED! After spending countless hours working with educators around the world, and hearing their feedback, the Chibitronics team is thrilled to announce the release of our new Launchpad LEDs! Like our safer, easier-to-use Launchpad Battery, our new Launchpad LEDs come with sturdy tabs that are easy to grip, sketch, and […]
Tech Tip: Build a Bridge to Prevent a Short Circuit
Due to a special request made by an educator who attended our Summer Pathfinders course this August, this post is about bridges and how they work within a paper circuit. I’ll also be using Circuit Sketcher (our NEW Digital Design Software) to demonstrate a couple of examples. If you spend enough time experimenting with paper […]
Alien Abduction: Tilt Sensing, Light-Up Tunnel Book (featuring Chibitronics)
In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to use Chibitronics LED stickers and an optional tilt switch to add illumination, interactivity, and special effects to a tunnel book. The one I’m sharing here is shaped like an octagon and features my own interpretation of a common trope: an alien abduction. Although a tunnel book may be […]
Make a Father’s Day Card (with Chibitronics LED Stickers)!
Warm Dad’s Heart Father’s Day is just around the corner (Sunday, June 15), which means that it’s time to starting thinking about how you might help fire up some fun on his special day! In this tutorial, I’ll show you a quick and easy way to create a light-up Father’s Day Card that sizzles with […]