A simple circuit

Ages 6 to 8 Read together, then try alone · about 25 minutes

Read together

Electricity needs a complete loop to flow. This loop is called a circuit.

A battery pushes the electricity. Wires carry it. A bulb uses it to make light.

If the loop is broken, the light goes out. A switch can break the loop on purpose.

Do it

1. With a grown-up, use one AA or D battery (1.5 volts), a small torch bulb in a holder and two short pieces of wire.
2. Connect the wire from one end of the battery to the bulb, and from the bulb to the other end of the battery. The bulb should light.
3. Make a switch with a paper clip: open the loop and close it. Watch the light turn on and off.
4. Try putting a plastic item and a metal item into the loop. Which lets the light turn on?

Talk about it

• Why did the light go out when we opened the loop?
• Which materials let electricity through?

For the grown-up

A circuit needs a source, a path and something that uses the energy. Metals conduct electricity, and plastic and rubber do not. This is a good safe first step to electrical ideas.

Mark as done

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Where this comes from

• NGSS Lead States, Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States (National Academies Press, 2013), performance expectation 4-PS3-2 (make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat and electric currents)
• U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, safety information on button batteries and electrical hazards

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.