Your First Paper Circuit

Circuit

We will use the copper tape to connect a battery to the LED circuit sticker in a loop.

The “+ side” of the LED circuit sticker needs to connect to the “+” side of the battery and the “-” point of the sticker needs to connect to the “-” side of the battery. This continuous loop will form a complete circuit, lighting up your LED!

Materials

Tip: All of the materials except for the printable template are already included in the Circuit Stickers Intro Kit!

• 1 LED Circuit Sticker
• 3V coin cell battery (CR2032)
• Small binder clip (3/4″ wide, 3/8″ capacity)
• 7.25″ (18 cm) of copper tape or other conductive material, cut into 2 strips
• One card from the printable circuit card template. You can print it double sided or print just the first side.

Directions

Step 1

Take one of the pieces of copper tape and peel back some of the paper backing to get it started.

Step 2

Run copper tape over both of the gray lines.

Make sure to leave a gap between the two strips of copper tape.

Step 3

Place your LED sticker over the outline and press it down for a count of 5. To achieve the best connection, avoid touching the adhesive with your fingers as much as possible.

Step 4

Place your battery + side up on top of the circle marked – . This way, when you fold the flap over, the positive side of the battery will make contact with the copper tape connected to the positive side of your LED.

Fold the flap over along the dotted lines, then hold it in place with a binder clip.

Step 5

Is your LED turning on? Excellent! If it’s not shining, don’t worry—this is common for first circuits! Try these handy troubleshooting steps:

• Is the battery facing the right way?
Make sure your battery is + side up before you fold the page over.
• Is the LED sticker stuck down firmly?
Press down on your LED for a count of 5 seconds to ensure a good connection.
• Is the LED pointing the right way?
Check that the metal parts of the sticker are sitting on top of your copper tape, positive to positive (wide side of triangle) and negative to negative (pointed side of triangle).
• Still not working?
If that doesn’t work for you, check out our more detailed Troubleshooting Guide.

Step 6

Fold the left half of your template over to the right so that it covers the circuit and your light shines through the paper. Now you can decorate the blank page and use your LED to tell a story or illuminate your artwork!

Hooray! What’s next?

Check out the Circuit Sticker Sketchbook tutorials to learn more circuit-building ideas and techniques, or Love to Code to program your LED.