Title: Sugar Skulls Circuit!

Grade level: 4th

(Optional) Literacy Connection: Coco Little Golden Book (Disney/Pixar Coco)
by Disney Books or The Dead Family Diaz by P.J. Bracegirdle This Photo by Unknown

STEM Content Standards:

Standards for Technological Literacy
• STL 12: Students will develop the abilities to use and maintain technological products
and systems.
o Follow step-by-step directions to assemble a product.
Science
• 4-PS3-2 Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place
to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.
Social Studies
• G.9.4.2 Analyze ways cultural characteristics influence population distribution in regions
of the United States and the world
Big Ideas:
• Different cultures have different holidays and traditions. Day of the Dead is a Mexican
holiday in which people celebrate their ancestors. This project highlights Day of the Dead
as the craft that is connected to the electrical circuit.
• An electrical circuit is a path in which electrons from a voltage or current source flow.
• An electron is a stable subatomic particle with a charge of negative electricity.
• In order for the electrons to flow in the circuit, they need a conductor. A conductor is an
object or type of material that allows the flow of charge in one or more directions.
Copper is an example of a conductor.
• Electrical current is the flow of charge.
• When a switch is connected, electrons flow from the anode to the cathode and return.
• The anode is the positive side of the battery.
• The cathode is the negative side of the battery.
• An open circuit is one in which the continuity has been broken by an interruption in the
path for current to flow.
• A closed circuit is one which is complete, with good continuity throughout. When a
switch is thrown, the circuit is closed and the electrons flow around the wire creating the
current.
 • An electrical current is the rate of flow of electric charge past a point or region.
Materials:
• Sugar Skull Template
• Markers, crayons, colored pencils
• Scissors
• Tape
• Glue
• Card stock, cardboard, or paper plate
• LED lights
• Metal brads
• Paperclip
• CR2025 Battery
• Wires (1 positive and 2 negative)
• Optional: Wire cutters, wire strippers

Steps to build:

MAKING THE SUGAR SKULL:

1. To begin, find a template online (or use the one provided at the end this lesson) and color
in the sugar skull. Once colored in, trace the outline of the skull on some sort of cardstock
or cardboard. Cut this out, as this will be used to make the skull sturdier.
2. Glue the skull onto the cardboard or cardstock. Once it is glued together, poke holes in
the nose and teeth. These will be where the light goes, and the metal brads go for the
switch. Be sure to space your holes in the teeth apart, but close enough so that the
paperclip can reach both metal brads.

3. Add the metal brads and the light to the holes that have been made. Once pushed in, fold
down the legs of the light and metal brads on the backside of the skull. It is important to
note on the light, the longer leg is the positive side.
 POSITIVE LEG

CREATING THE CIRCUIT:

4. To begin, gather your wires. You will need 1 positive wire and 2 negative wires. The red
wire is positive, and the black wire is negative. Use either scissors or wire strippers to
strip the casing of the wire on both sides of each wire. This is necessary to expose the
wiring that will act as the conductor.
a. Optional step: Use wire cutters to shorten the wires so that they fit better behind
the sugar skull.
5. Now you need the CR2025 battery. This battery will have a side that has a “+” sign on it.
This is the positive side of the battery. Begin by taking the red wire (positive wire) and
place one side under the positive (long) leg of the LED light. Now, take the battery and
place it positive side down. Take the other side of the red wire and place it under the
battery. Be sure the positive side of the battery is touching the positive red wire. Use tape
to secure as needed.

6. Now, taking one of the black wires, connect one side of the black wire to one of the metal
brads. These metal brads will become the circuit switch. Connect the other side of the
wire to the CR2025 battery. Be sure it is touching the negative side of the battery. Use
tape to secure as needed.
7. Now, taking the final black wire, secure one side of the black wire to the other metal
brad. Secure the other side of the wire to the other side leg of the LED light. This is the
negative leg and should be the shorter leg.
8. Turn the skull over. Take the paper clip and attach it to one of the metal brads. This is
now the circuit’s switch.

9. Touch the paper clip to the other metal brad. Your skull now lights up!

10.
Sugar Skull Template: