AnnMarie Thomas- Making Makers

Help Squishy Circuits!

When we started the Squishy Circuits project in 2009 my undergrad research students and I never dreamt that it would take off the way that it did. We're delighted to know that there are Squishy Circuit builders young and old, around the world! We always knew we'd freely share all of our methods and information, but we realized that there were many people (particularly schools and parents) who wanted to be able to buy a complete kit, not just download a list of necessary parts and instructions.

 

My then undergraduate student, Matthew Schmidtbauer started the Squishy Circuits Store to meet this demand. It's been amazing to watch how hard Matt has worked to make the business a success. In order to grow his offerings, and expand the business, he is competing in the "Mission Main Street Grants" challenge. Below, I will share Matt's story of starting a company while in college, and what he would do if he won one of these grants. Please consider voting for him here.

My Squishy Circuits journey began in early 2011 when I was an electrical engineering student at the University of St. Thomas and had just started working with AnnMarie on the Squishy Circuits project. From the very beginning, I thought that Squishy Circuits was a fantastic idea – and I was very excited to be working on it. After attending several events, I realized that many people were looking for a single source for all of the components required for Squishy Circuits. As my mom stated, “I wouldn’t have bought this for you growing up. I wouldn’t know what to call these things, let alone where to buy them.” 

 Although developing a business plan, sourcing parts, and building a website were not necessarily things I thought I would be working on during my free time that spring, I started learning more about the process and finalized the Squishy Circuits Store idea. By June I had gained permission from AnnMarie, Sam (Squishy Circuits’ previous student researcher and recipe developer), and St. Thomas to continue forward. On June 15^th, I filed the paperwork for Squishy Circuits Store LLC.

Armed with a small loan from my parents, I ordered raw materials from China. Upon their arrival, it became quite clear that “some assembly was required” and my parents and I began producing Squishy Circuits Kits out of their basement and garage. By September I had the first versions of the Squishy Circuits Kits available online and had started selling them. Learning to juggle school, work, kit production, and everything that filled the spaces in-between proved to be challenge, but, looking back, I can only think of it as a positive, learning experience.

Fast-forwarding to present day, I am proud to have sold thousands of Squishy Circuits kits in over 20 countries around the world. Although no longer a student researcher for Squishy Circuits, I continue to be a proponent of the program and am a firm believer that learning can be accomplished through playing and self-discovery.

To be honest, I am not sure if I ever expected Squishy Circuits Store to grow to the size that it has already. But, as Squishy Circuits continues to gain momentum in schools, libraries, and dining rooms    around the world, I would like to continue to expand Squishy Circuits Store too. This grant would allow me to redesign the kit to break into new    markets    and create additional products that support different Squishy    Circuits    activities. More specifically, it would allow me to build up    inventory so that I can start marketing at educational supply    conferences and trade shows. Until now, I have been slowly growing by reinvesting the profits that I make, but with this grant I would    have the capitol I need to scale Squishy Circuits Store to a new level much more quickly. Although I never anticipated that I would    be running a company that provides hardware for electrical education using play dough, I am excited for the opportunity and am confident that Squishy Circuits Store’s future is a bright one.

 Again, please vote here!

 

Sage's Dress for the White House Maker Faire

Ever since my girls were old enough to ask to go to Maker Faire (about 3 years old), I set a rule: if you're going to travel with me to a faire, you need to do two things:

 (1) Make (or help make) your clothes for the faire

 (2) Present, volunteer, help at an exhibit, or participate in some other way

We've followed these criteria. Sage's first big Maker Faire was World Maker Faire in 2012, when she was four. She helped sew a dress, and built a Nerdy Derby car that she brought to NY from MN. (This car makes a cameo appearance in The Art of Tinkering, if you look very closely.)  

In 2013, Sage was five, so we discussed the possibility of presenting at the faire. She was up for it, and volunteered to teach a workshop on Squishy Circuits. This year she also took the lead on making a jumper with pockets (for LEDs) and big wooden buttons.

About two weeks ago when Sage and I were invited to the 1st White House Maker Faire and run a Squishy Circuits table, and we jumped at the chance. Clearly, it was time to make a new dress! Sage had just finished kindergarten and had a free day to work on it, so we decided to be adventurous and make our own pattern, based on an older dress that she likes. She made some modification, traced, cut, pinned and sewed. (Since we used the serger, I "steered" and she worked the pedal.)

Unfortunately, we completely forgot about seam allowances and the first dress was too tight. Sage picked new fabric (very patriotic in stripes, white, blue and pink) and made a second version.

Squishy Circuits At the White House

My oldest daughter, Sage, and I were incredibly honored to have been invited to the first White House Maker Faire, which was held as part of National Day of Making, on June 18.  As one of the 30 exhibits, we were asked to create an interactive Squishy Circuits table inside of the White House. We didn't have a lot of time to prep for this trip, so I am incredibly grateful to the University of St. Thomas engineering students who pitched in and made dough, fixed circuits, and helped pack. In particular, thanks go out to Emma Koller, Lauren Van Beek, and David Siglin. Matthew Schmidtbauer, a former Squishy Circuits research student who now runs Squishy Circuits Store, kindly donated kits for us to bring. He also wrote a tutorial for a great new project: The Squishy Circuits' version of the US Flag! With our bags packed, we headed to the airport and to DC. (We also got to meet a lot of very lovely TSA and bomb squad folks, but that's a story for another day... In short, be careful when you fly with playdough and electronics.)

 

 

At the White House, we were thrilled to find that we had been given a spot below a portrait of President Lincoln. Sage did an amazing job of prepping our table. We were delighted to be able to use our University of St. Thomas tablecloth. (The University of St. Thomas was one of over 150 universities that signed a letter of support for increasing the opportunities for young people to make. I will write more about this later!)

 

 

 

Once the Maker Faire was opened, the day became a blur of circuit making! Sage and I got to teach visitors ranging from NASA engineers to children how to create Squishy Circuits. 

   

Sage and I were also interviewed by Make magazine which ran a post about us. As many of you know, Sage is very surprised to often find herself as the only girl in engineering classes and workshops and decided that the White House Maker Faire was a good opportunity for her to speak out about this.

Partway through the day, we were brough to the room where President Obama gave his address about National Day of Making. It was amazing to be in a room full of so many people that I admire. His address stressed the importance of making in education, the economy, innovation, and other aspects of society. The full text of the speech can be found here.

 

All good things must come to an end, and Sage and I packed up and headed out after five hours of meeting incredible makers, teachers, politicians, and scientists. Sage was especially proud of the blue ribbon we were given to commemorate the day!

 Thank you to the amazing White House staff, the Maker Media team and the Maker Faire team!

PS-Sage designed and sewed the dress she wore at the White House. Later, I'll write another post about her design.

Squishy Circuits on facebook

One of my research lab's projects focuses on creating tools to allow children (and adults) to explore engineering in a fun, playful fashion.  A few years ago we set out to see if we could develop a way to create sculptable circuits.  The result of this inquiry was Squishy Circuits, a set of conductive and non-conductive homemade play doughs that can be used with electronics components such as motors and LEDs.  We're happy to say that the project has taken off beyond our wildest dreams and is now used by teachers, parents and kids around the world.

We've been getting lots of great suggestions from users, and have set up a Facebook community where users can share questions, suggestions and pictures.  Please join us! Based on email requests that we have been receiving, we will also be launching new educational material on our website (videos, activity guides, and a basic electronics primer for beginners using squishy circuits) this summer.

PS: Recently, I gave a short demo on the project: