Who loves to zone out in color and get into the creative side of their art brain?  It turns out with Solar Spinart, all ages do!  At Solar Schoolhouse we have been bringing our Solar Spinart devices to events with us for years but recently we checked in with others who have purchased kits of Solar Spinart and found out what they have been excited about. 

In 2017 Maker Teacher Brian Kaplan, attended our Solar Schoolhouse Summer Institute for Educators looking for solar activities to do with his students.  After the week of solar immersion  he went home and created a Mobile Maker Club in Novato, CA, bringing a variety of experiences to do with students on site.  A tweak of our WhirlyGig project became the first Solar Spinart device which as Brian said “mesmerized” students.   This in turn motivated Tor of Solar Schoolhouse to experiment and develop a Solar Spinner using smaller solar cells, motors and a small wheel.  Thanks Brian, Spinart has become popular in many settings!

Solar United Neighbors (SUN) tested out the new (SSH) Solar Spinners in (2019) with a summer camp for girl scouts. SUN had created a solar energy themed girl scout badge program and the spinart became part of this experience.  As sponsors, SUN printed cardstock with SolarUnitedNeighbors.org to connect their work with the scouts and their families.  The girl scouts had a button maker tool so they used the Spinart as the artwork for personalized buttons for each scout.  Several printable templates are also available for download online.  

It was Solar United Neighbors (SUN) that introduced us to using a 2 inch blank white paper sticker on the Spinner for make-and-take art.  SUN is a national non-profit founded by Anya Schoolman after she and her then 12 year old started a neighborhood campaign to have solar installed in their neighborhood in 2010.  The Spinart was first used in Florida then caught on in other states.

SUN Heartland Community Impact Specialist, Morgan Byrne shared, “I’ve gotten great reviews from my colleagues who have used Spinart in Indiana and West Virginia, they were a big hit, easy to set up, and very fun!”

At tabling events for SUN, the Spinart first drew the kids, then the adults.  “Their interest drew a LOT of people to the booth”, reported SUN representatives.

SSH began bringing the blank stickers discovered by SUN to events we attend such as SMUD’s Electricity Faire and the North Bay Science Discovery Day and we took the art up a notch by also bringing custom stampers etched with sun designs and the SSH Logo.  After participants used the colored markers to decorate their spinning sticker, they then could remove the sticker, stamp it with one of our stampers and be on their way with their new art piece. You can buy simple solar or sunshine themed rubber stampers online or have one made custom with your organization’s logo, solar message included.  rubberstamps.net is a potential source that we’ve used. 

When a solar company such as Suntribe (now MadisonEnergy Infrastructure) thinks big and sends employees out to educate in schools, bringing hands-on activities to the classroom helps engage students in learning about solar energy.   When Solar Energy Educator, Meghan Milo, introduced solar spinart during her classroom visits, the fun and the “wow” factor got positive responses. One kid said, “this is so mesmerizing!”.  It was through Meghan that we learned about a brave art teacher named Cathy.

Leave it to art teachers to experiment with paint, not the usual felt-tip pens, for using with the Solar Spinners.  Cathy Byers, an art teacher in Frederickburg, Virginia, added a larger surface area by attaching a CD to the yellow wheel on the spinner. Solar cells and motor from the Solar Cell Classroom Set were used to create a spinner for the artwork.  CD sized paper was used to capture the designs made by slightly watered down acrylic paints in small squeeze bottles.

In Geyserville, California, art teacher Yoshi Makino, had students use water color paints with surprisingly little splash.  The use of paint, in particular water colors, has the benefit of less waste since plastic felt-tip pens tend to dry out quickly and need replacing whereas water colors last much longer with less waste product.

Solar Spinart has also traveled around in Florida with The MoBus Solar Science Sustainability Lab, providing hands-on solar science and environmental sustainability experiences at schools and camps. With grants from All Points North Foundation, MoLab<Inc has purchased kits from Solar Schoolhouse to use with their programs.   MoLab co-founder Aimee Hills shared, “The solar spin art kits are a wonderful educational tool to reinforce concepts of solar science and simple circuitry. It is a great combination of art and science.”

Solar Schoolhouse materials and lessons have been making an appearance at Outdoor Education Schools around California, most recently also due to an All Points North grant.  School classes, typically 4-6th grade, attend Outdoor Ed Schools during the school year, spending 3-5 days immersed in nature with activities led by onsite naturalists.  At  Naturebridge, in Marin Headlands, California, a Greeting Card option was developed as they incorporated the Solar Spinart into their activities. The Spinart is adhered to cardstock which students then decorate further with colored pens, paint, etc.  Another option that works well for Outdoor Ed Schools that utilize student journals is for students to stick their Spinart creation on a journal page and write or draw about the solar experiences they had during camp.

One question that arises is,”What do we do for solar activities when it is a cloudy day?”  SSH came up with an answer.  For the North Bay Science Discovery Day, the weather forecast looked like a mix of clouds, light sprinkles, and some sunshine. This inspired the cloudy day solution – adding a 3V*1A small solar panel to the existing Solar Spinner.  The current design includes some exposed wire to clip the extra panel to the Spinart device.  It works great! The 3V*1A solar panel, available from Solar Schoolhouse, is also the size that is used for Junior Solar Sprint car races.