Tag: tinker crate

Tinker Crate Spin Art Machine

By Kiran Jayasinghe

Recently we signed up for Tinker Crate (find out more in our Tinker Crate review), and we just received June’s box! Our newest Tinker crate came with the materials and instructions to make a spin art machine. Including paint pens, paper, and instructions, the tinker crate showed us how to create spin art, while also teaching us how to build and engineer the machine.

To create the spin art machine, we used the actual box, a circle of wood, some sticky foam, resistors, a battery pack, a motor, and a breadboard. We placed the spinning motor on the bottom of the box, attached the wood circle, connected the battery to the motor, then attached a breadboard, to distribute energy and be able to create different speeds. See the video below to see how it turned out!

The fun thing about this project is that it is reusable. I used it myself several times. The project teaches you about motion and randomness. It’s definitely interesting to see how each piece comes out differently, however much you try to replicate them!

To learn more about Tinker Crate, visit www.kiwico.com/tinker.

Tinker Crate Review

By Simran, Kiran, and Svara Jayasinghe

A few months ago, we bought something called a Tinker Crate. The company that makes it, Kiwi Crate, sends you a box of materials for a science project each month. We were really excited to get our first box , because the experiments sounded like fun. The Tinker Crate is one of the items that the company sells. They also have other crates, such as Doodle Crates, Kiwi Crates, and Koala Crates. Take a look at them at  kiwico.com.

In the Tinker Crate, there are instructions and the material needed for the main science experiment. The Crate also has a magazine inside. The magazine includes several additional experimental ideas, and materials for two of these other experiments are included in the box as well.

In June, the experiment was to build a bottle rocket. We built the rocket, made a launch mixture, and launched the rocket! The bottle rocket used a small chemical reaction to fly upwards.

It took a few tries to launch the rocket properly, and to get the hang of launching it. Our tips: Hold the rocket tightly against the cork on the launcher so that none of the gas inside the rocket can escape. Make sure that the launcher is on the ground before you let go of the rocket. Otherwise, the launcher will get ejected out of the rocket, instead of the rocket flying off the launcher. Once the launcher is firmly on the ground, let go of the rocket. Try adding extra water and more launch mixture to the rocket for a better blast off.

We can’t wait to see what comes in the Tinker Crate next month!

Tinker Crate Review (December 2017)

by Svara Jayasinghe

This month in our Tinker Crate we found out that we were making paper circuits. I have never done anything like this before so I found it a little challenging. My dad helped me with some of the steps I had trouble with but I did several steps on my own.  Even when my dad helped he just helped me with the instructions and I actually did all the work!  The project was to make lanterns with different colored LED lights.  My dad said that LED stands for ‘Light Emitting Diode”.  I really don’t know what a diode is but I am sure I will learn about these later.  First I had to make the base that help the LED light in place.  We used copper tape to make the circuit and connect the LED to the battery.  We also had to use a resistor to make the LED light up.

The circuit was built using copper tape, two plastic rails, a resistor, two wires and a battery.
The circuit was built using copper tape, two plastic rails, a resistor, two wires and a battery.
The circuit with a blue LED touching the copper paper
The circuit with a blue LED touching the copper paper

After I made the base I made the lamp shades to complete the lanterns. The crate had material to make a flower, a pyramid, or a cylinder lantern.  I ended up making all three lanterns.  The crate also comes with different colored LED lights so that you can try out many different versions of the lantern.

Flower lantern with Red LED
Flower lantern with Red LED
Pyramid lantern with green LED
Pyramid lantern with green LED
Cylinder lantern with blue LED
Cylinder lantern with blue LED

This month’s Tinker Crate was kind of hard for me but I still enjoyed it, and I know my sisters did too. Before this I had never played with LED lights, or resistors, and making the lanterns gave me a chance to know how these worked.  I really enjoyed the project and I learned new things.