Fireworks in a Jar

Planning for summer typically starts in January, which was a challenge this year, because we didn't know what the summer would look like or if we'd be able to have in-person activities. So we did what a lot of organizations in our position did and conceived of kits that we could send home with folks. These kits needed to not require any special equipment, like a soldering iron, and be fairly cheap to put together, as we were creating them in bulk. Fireworks in a Jar was one of 9 kits we put together for folks to pick up and take home this summer. The cost for this kit was around $3.50 per kit.

Because we couldn't include things that had to be soldered, but we wanted to be able to turn off our fireworks, we ended up using conductive thread and e-textile components. It's not a traditional sewable circuit, but it really worked well for the project.

If you're looking to map this project to education standards this project maps to the following:

Next Generation Science Standards

• PS3.D
• ETS1.A
• ETS1.C

Electrical components:

• Diffused 5mm flashing RGB LEDs from Adafruit - these were our new find for the summer. We used them in a couple of different projects and the kids loved them. Diffused LEDs were the key to really making things glow.
• Battery holder and switch from Kitronik - These two things are now a single component! When we purchased them at the first of the year they were two separate components. We love Kitronik's components. They're really easy to use, really easy to sew, and positive and negative posts are clearly marked.
• Conductive Thread
• Coin Battery

Everything else:

• 16 oz Wide mouth plastic jars purchased from Amazon. Could be swapped out for jam and jelly jars or whatever jar you have at home, but the lid needs to be big enough for the components.
• Cardboard or felt if your jar doesn't have an insert. The jars linked above had a foam insert that we sewed into. If you're re-using something you have around the house you'll need something to sew into.
• Dark-colored Tissue Paper
• Glue
• foam brush or paint brush
• Scissors
• Tape
• Sewing Needle
• Stuff to decorate your jars like glitter and stickers

1. Put a dollop of glue in the jar and spread it around until you have a thin layer. If you want to add glitter, add it now before putting the tissue paper in.
2. Then work the tissue paper into the glue. The tissue paper may crinkle or tear. That's okay, it will make your jar look even better. Just keep layering in tissue paper until you have most of the inside of the jar covered.
3. Set the jar aside to dry for 24 hrs.

It's always a good idea to test your components and make sure they work before starting your project. LEDs have a positive leg and a negative leg. The longer of the two legs is typically positive.

Put the positive leg to the positive side of the battery, and the negative leg to the negative side. The LED should light up. If it doesn't, make sure you've got the correct leg on the correct side of the battery. If it's still not working try a different battery or LED.

1. Bend the legs of the LED so it will sit flat. Make sure you pay attention to which of the legs is positive and which is negative.
2. Then bend up the ends up the legs into small hooks so that we can hook the conductive thread around the legs.

Use an ink pen or marker to mark where you wanted everything to go. Make sure that your circuits aren't going to touch each other.

Then thread your needle and start sewing everything down. If you're not familiar with basic hand sewing, check out youtube. There are several good videos.

Conductive thread is a little slippery and tends to come unknotted easily. So adding just a little bit of tape at key spots can help that conductive thread stay put.

Once you've verified that everything is working, put the lid insert back into the lid and screw your jar on.

Congrats! You have fireworks in a jar.