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Make Your Own Toilet Paper Tube Flashlight

How Batteries Work

Make Your Own Toilet Paper Tube Flashlight

By now, your child has learned enough about electricity to know that it's not some mysterious force that only electricians can make sense of. If you've already made a Lemon Clock, then he has learned a little about electrons and how batteries work. Making a Toilet Paper Tube Flashlight will not only reinforce those skills but also help your child understand what's going on inside a regular flashlight when he flips the switch. This project needs a lot of adult supervision and assistance, as it requires precision and calls for someone to strip the insulation off wires. Do not let your child attempt this project alone.

Skills Being Practiced

• Scientific method
• Basic understanding of how electricity works
• Exploring conductive materials and circuitry

What You Need

• 2 D batteries
• Large paper clip
• 2 brass fasteners
• Small plastic cup
• Empty toilet paper tube
• Flashlight light bulb
• Scissors
• 5"-long piece of 22-gauge insulated copper wire
• 8"-long piece of 22-gauge insulated copper wire
• Utility knife or wire strippers
• Electrical tape
• 2"-wide sewing elastic
• Ruler
• Marker

Get Ready to Play

1. Use a utility knife or a pair of wire strippers to strip 1" of insulation from each end of both pieces of copper wire.
2. Have your child measure and cut a ½" piece of sewing elastic. He should have a piece of elastic that measures ½" x 2".
3. Use your utility knife to make a small slit in the middle of the piece of elastic, and insert the flashlight bulb, bulb-side up. Make sure the elastic fits snugly.
4. Help your child cut the bottom off the plastic cup. It should now look like a small megaphone.
5. Ask your child to cut the toilet paper tube lengthwise so it can be spread out into a flat rectangle.

Conduct Your Experiment

Make the Flashlight

1. Lay the toilet paper tube flat on your work surface. It is bound to try to curl up again, so you will either need to designate someone to hold it in place or temporarily tape the edges down.
2. Place a large paper clip lengthwise in the middle of the flattened tube. Insert a brass fastener through one end of the paperclip and push it through the flattened tube. Have your child flip the tube over and flatten out the edges of the brass fastener. If the tube is taped down, you will have to remove the tape to do this.
3. Flip the tube back over, so you can see the paper clip. Make sure it is parallel to the end of the top edge of the flattened toilet paper tube. In the end of the paper clip that doesn't have the brass fastener, use a marker to make a small mark on the tube.
4. Swing the paper clip down and away from the mark, just like the switch it is becoming. Have your child poke a second brass fastener through the mark you made. Turn the tube over, and flatten out the prongs of the brass fastener.
5. Keep the toilet paper tube flipped over, so you can see the prongs of the fasteners. Take the 5"-long piece of wire, and attach one of the stripped ends to the brass fastener on the left side of the tube. The easiest way to attach the wire is to slide it under one of the prongs of the brass fastener, and wrap it tightly. Use a piece of electrical tape to cover the brass fastener to help to hold the wire in place.
6. Repeat the last step with the 8"-long wire and the other brass fastener.
7. Place the 2 D batteries end to end, making sure the positive and negative terminals are touching. Hold them tightly while your child uses electrical tape to tape them together. Have him use as much tape as he needs to make sure the batteries are securely fastened and the terminals won't slip.
8. Put the battery pack inside the flattened toilet paper tube. The negative terminal should be toward the left-hand side (the side with the shorter wire). Have your child use electrical tape to attach the remaining stripped end of the wire to the negative terminal on the bottom of the battery pack.
9. At the other end of the battery pack, wrap the stripped end of the longer wire around the base of the flashlight bulb. Hold it in place with tape, and then touch the bottom of the light bulb to the positive terminal on the battery. Have your child hold it there while you tape them together.
10. Fold the ends of the elastic in which the light bulb is contained toward the top of the battery pack. Place tape around the bottom of the elastic and help your child attach it to the battery pack. When it's taped in place, it should look a bit like a covered wagon's canvas on top of the battery.
11. Roll the toilet paper tube back up around the batteries. Make sure it's tight, and have your child tape it closed.
12. Place the plastic cup megaphone on the top of the flashlight. The smaller opening should go over the elastic around the base of the light bulb. Wrap tape around the bottom of the cup to attach it to the toilet paper tube. By now, your child should see that your contraption is beginning to look like a flashlight.
13. Give your child the flashlight. Have him move the paperclip switch so that it touches the brass fastener it is not attached to. If all the connections are in the right place, the flashlight should light up! When the switch is moved away from the brass fastener, the flashlight will go off.

Observations