Inventors Kit 3: Spin-Art

Posted by Matthew Little on Jan 03, 2022

This time we will use the motor to make a spinning wheel, which you can use to show off patterns you design or that can be used to make 'spin-art'.

You will need your wobbly wrobot that we built previously. This time we will not need the nut, as we don't want it to wobble this time! You might also want to use two batteries to make the motor spin faster!

Here is the motor circuit with two batteries:

I needed to use some tape to hold the connections in place.

You will need to cut a disk from some thin cardboard. Use an old CD, saucer or large can to draw around and cut that out.

We will use the long motor connector. Use some sticky tape to tape your cardboard disk to your motor connector and push the motor connector onto the motor spindle.

Now you can spin the motor with felt-tip pens on the disk to make patterns.

You can also try drawing a pattern and then spinning it to see what happens!

Warning: Messy activity ahead! Make sure you are in an area that can get messy!

Put a piece of paper onto the carboard disk. Use some tape or blue-tac to hold it down. You can put this in the bottom of a large carboard box to stop the paint spraying everywhere!

Pour a small blob of paint onto the middle of the paper. Press the switch and set it spinning! This will create 'spin-art'. Add different colours and try switching the motor on and off to get different patterns. Add paint while its moving for different effects. Add different colours of paint for different patterns.