Joshua is the founder of Brown Dog Gadgets in Brookfield, Wisconsin, USA. Originally a middle school teacher, Joshua found it very annoying as a teacher that all the fun science activities his students were doing had to be disassembled at the end of each class. This is pretty much how Brown Dog Gadgets came to be. 

Images: (c) Brown Dog Gadgets – used with permission

As quickly mentioned, Brown Dog Gadgets specializes in ‘make and take’ projects – these are things that kids create in the classroom and then can take home when finished. This is opposite to most other edtech companies in the United States – most of them sell more expensive kits which are disassembled at the end of a project and then stay at school. 

The benefit of course is that kids can take ownership of their projects and will be more motivated and enthusiastic about their project. Also, kids take home their projects to their families and friends and thereby learn and share the knowledge they acquired even more. 

Brown Dog Gadgets also developed a line of modular Electronics called Crazy Circuits. Again being a low-cost system, it is expandable and compatible with Lego blocks. In combination with conductive tape, students can work on simple circuit-board-like projects which are fun, easy to build and easy to troubleshoot. 

Shownotes

• Brown Dog Gadgets Website
• Brown Dog Gadgets on Twitter and Instagram
• Evil Mad Scientists and Full Episode with Lenore Edman
• Instructables.com
• Robotshop.com
• Brown Dog Gadgets GitHub Repos
• Live Streams: Youtube,  Facebook & Twitch

Brandon is a veteran of the technology world and has spent his twenty-year career working as a programmer, architect, product manager and executive for a number of companies, across a variety of industries. 

A tinkerer at heart, Brandon’s love for electronics extends back to the Nintendo Entertainment System he would take apart and reassemble when simply blowing on the cartridges didn’t work. Brandon is also a lover of story and has written and published several books and short stories. He lives in Austin, TX with his editor-in-chief and wife Sarah and three boys.

So when it comes to children’s books – Brandon has published two so far and both were initially successfully funded on Kickstarter. First, there was “Ed Gets His Power Back” back in 2017 and then a year later, the children’s book “Ellie Saves the Day” was launched. Both books share a common theme, which is to discover electronics through the power of story.

Images: (c) Brandon Satrom – used with permission

His first book, Ed Gets His Power Back, is the story of a green LED named Ed who learns to light himself up and complete a circuit with the help of his friends. 

In the second kids book, Ellie Saves the Day,  Ellie who is a blue LED learns to make her light blink and complete a circuit with the help of her friends.  

Both books are beautifully illustrated and fun to read with your kids.  But what is even better is that both books can be purchased with a STEAM kit, a component pack which includes either an electronic breadboard or a custom printed circuit board plus components. While reading the book or afterwards, you can then complete a basic but REAL electronic circuit and thereby continue to learn about the electronic components discussed in the real physical world. 

Shownotes

• Brandon on Twitter 
• Carrot Pants Press on Twitter
• Carrot Pants Press Facebook Page
• Carrot Pants Press on Instagram
• Ellie Saves the Day Kickstarter Page
• Ed Gets His Power Back Kickstarter Page
• Store: Carrot Pants Press Products
• PDF: Free STEAM Guide Book for basic electronic circuits
• Hackster.io
• Instructables

Make the dough

If you decide to make your own dough, don’t forget that you need two types: conductive and insulating dough. When you do this in class, you might want to split up in two groups and prepare the exact ingredients and tools for each team. I won’t go into detail here, as the recipes are really well explained here.

Build some squishy circuits