Luz Rivas, Author at KitHub

All Posts by Luz Rivas

3 Back to School Notebook Hacks

It's back to school time and we're sure your busy stocking up on supplies including notebooks. There are a variety of materials you can use to make notebooks light up using paper circuitry. 

Here are three ways to hack your notebooks:

1. Simple Paper Circuit
Using copper tape, a coin battery and an LED you can add  a simple circuit to your favorite notebook. If you're a teacher,  everything you need to do this with your whole class is available in our Classroom Electronics - Plus kit. Great way to get your students off to a good start with this STEAM activity! 

We love the Exploratorium and all of their wonderful tutorials including this fantastic paper circuit activity guide that you can download here.

2. Draw a Circuit
When we tried this Circuit Marker, we thought about how much fun it would be to doodle in our notebooks with it! The Circuit Marker lets you draw electric circuits quickly and easily on circuit paper. Made a mistake? No problem, you can erase it and continue drawing your design. It's really easy for you to connect your notebook drawings to many interesting components and devices. 

The Circuit Marker Starter kit is made by our partners, AgIC in Japan. Watch this introduction video.

3. Add a Microcontroller
You can add more  control and features to your notebook by adding a microcontroller to your paper circuits. Make your LEDs blink in different patterns or have them react to a light sensor.  All this can be done with a few components and the Arduino software. 

We like this project from 21st Century Notebooking that shows you how you can program your notebook to tell an LED to blink a message in Morse code. Read instructions

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We’ve partnered with Parenthoods to give Discounts to San Francisco Parents

We here at KitHub love supporting local communities, and know that parents are some of our best customers. That’s why we’re excited to announce that we’ve partnered with Parenthoods, a new app with a great community of local SF parents to give back, and show our appreciation.

 

Parenthoods just launched a new discount section that offers curated deals from local businesses that are great for moms, dads and their kids. Together we’ve teamed up on a special offer, just for parents in San Francisco.

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So download the app to join the Parenthoods community with us!

Luz Rivas teaching electronics

KitHub Educator Program: Empowering Educators to Teach Electronics to Children

By Luz Rivas

For the past four years, I have led workshops that teach kids about electronics in afterschool programs, libraries and in formal classrooms. All of these environments allow kids to create with electronics. My students make their own light-up greeting cards, wearable electronics, and electronic games. Through these projects kids learn the physics of electrical circuits plus how to build them.

I’ve led classes of 10 to 30 kids ranging from 6 year olds to high school students. Here are a few things I have learned along the way:

Electronics projects can be done at a low cost – My budget for materials as an educator has always been very limited. I could never afford to buy expensive robotics kits or electronic learning toys for all my students. By combining electronics components with basic school supplies like pipe cleaners and construction paper, I have been able to offer creative electronics projects to my students. I have learned where to find low-cost materials and also find replacements to expensive parts required in some projects. It’s very satisfying to be able to do these projects with large groups of kids. Educators often think that teaching electronics is very expensive but in reality it can be affordable if you know where to buy your supplies.

Materials management is key to a successful experience – In my workshops, each student gets their own set of materials. It’s very important to me that each child is be able to take home the projects they make so they can share with their family.The hardest part about this is making sure I have all the materials and electronic components. I order electronics online from several suppliers and have been frustrated when not everything comes in on time despite planning ahead.

Announcing the KitHub Educator Program

I’m excited to announce our new educator program – a community for educators interested in bringing STEAM to classrooms, libraries and other learning environments. KitHub creative electronics projects are specifically designed to scale from one kid to 100 kids. The hands-on activities have been tested in school classrooms, makerspaces, after-school clubs and in home-school settings.

You can join a community of innovative educators who are forging new pathways for kids to learn about electronics in a fun and safe environment.

All the mothers that attended the robotics night engaged in a different relationship with their daughters that night. It was so wonderful to experience the collaboration and the energy that filled the room. It was a creative, engaging, team building experience like no other! My daughters and I loved it!

Carmen Labrecque, Principal

Thomas Edison Elementary

papercircuits hands girlscoutsruby teaching

Who qualifies as a KitHub educator? 

A KitHub educator is someone that regularly teaches groups of children in schools or other informal learning environments.

  • Classroom teachers
  • After school program instructors
  • Summer camp leaders
  • Librarians
  • Museum and Makerspace educators
  • Girl Scout/Boy Scout troop leaders

How it Works

  • We offer 15% off all orders for educators that sign up for our program
  • We’ll send you project ideas, videos and facilitator guides
  • Join our KitHub Slack group and have your questions answered by KitHub experts
  • For educators that order a classroom electronics kit for 30 or more students, we will provide a 30 min online consultation to help you get started

How to Sign Up

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