Thursday, March 12, 2009

Traffic Signal Lights


So now that we're on a bit of a roll here,
this is something else we made:

Emily was very proud to tell her dad when he got home,
"I colored the plastic circles!"
We used a three-way switch, three reflectors
and three bulbs.


This is the mess at the back:

The girls played traffic lights all morning, taking turns
to drive their cardboard car and change the signals. Had
to explain to Emily (Jenna didn't care) that real traffic lights
are timed so that people needn't stand out in the cold/heat
to press little switches to direct traffic.



At supper time, Jenna dutifully recited, "Red means stop.
Green means go. Um, what does lellow (yellow) mean, mum?"
A fun way to learn colors, I think.


5 comments:

  1. very cool - the other electricity/current posts also!

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  2. I love this! We've been holding up bits of painted card in the back yard while everyone peddles like nutters around a chalk track. It would be so much fun to let them do it as it was getting dark with a real traffic light!

    The husband is preoccupied with micro-controllers at the moment, but I will comandeer the soldering iron! I love that you are posting electronics bits. I'm still trying to get my husband to start his own electronics projects blog after the drawbots we made.

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  3. Hurrah and thank you both for not saying I'm bonkers (yet).
    Kitten Muffin: I don't own a soldering iron (yet) - I felt a bit off, putting on my Christmas wish list last year so I didn't. But I need one. You have given me the courage to procure one.

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  4. This made me think of a Shel Silverstein poem my son loves. Your daughter might too:

    When the light turns green, you go.
    When the light turns red, you stop.
    But what do you do
    when the light turns blue
    with orange and lavender spots?

    --Shel Silverstein

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  5. dis is GREAT.. my kids really enjoyed showing it off to their cousins, and other family members..

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