CoCoElectro Bag

This page has supporting information to accompany the CoCoElectro bag project that was funded by the Royal Society of Chemistry and provided all of the kit for children to carry out the activities described in the accompanying booklet which can be downloaded here (it’s free): CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE BOOKLET

The project provided equipment for children to explore materials science relevant to electricity and energy storage during the school summer holidays of 2023. The booklet, and activities, are aimed at 11-14 year olds but will be fine to use for slightly younger / older audiences maybe as part of a science club or as part of home-schooling

Equipment

All of the equipment was supplied in the CoCoElectro Bags at events during the school summer holidays in 2023. A full list of the euqipment will be published here in due course…..

Videos 

The following videos help guide you through the activities in the CoCoElectro Bag Booklet which can be found as a playlist on our YouTube channel:

• Introduction to CoCoElectro Bag (1min 41s) – a warm welcome to the CoCoElectro bag project and how to engage with the project. https://youtu.be/iKpMYPAv6Fs
• Properties of electrical materials – a guide to help you investigate which materials are good for conducting electricity – https://youtu.be/rM5mWyLuoGw
• Making the Penny Battery (3min 28s) – A guide to help you make your penny battery. https://youtu.be/RlSC4oQOjik
• Carrot Power! (3min 10s) – A video to help you light up a little light bulb (LED) using copper, zinc and a carrot. https://youtu.be/FXoOXpke7Pc
• Separating Materials (6min 01s) – an introduction to the importance of being able to separate materials and an introduction to the activity. https://youtu.be/N26CNf6zqc0
• Hydrogen Storage (4min 28s) – An introduction to materials for hydrogen storage and a walk through activities to help understand how to generate (after 57s) and store (after 2min 01s) hydrogen – https://youtu.be/mRZxvpQSTq4
• Solar Power (3min 25s) – an introduction to solar energy and the materials used to harvest some of the energy from the sun and to introduce UV light https://youtu.be/noaBzA4f9kc
• Lithium-ion batteries (5min 33s) – an introduction to lithium ion batteries, how they are made (after 12s) and how to recycle them (after 3min 11s). https://youtu.be/qpyuVLwi-kw
• Battery Jenga (2min 10s) – an overview to how to use the stickers and mini block puzzle kit to understand how lithium-ion batteries work. https://youtu.be/i56_y0uAfr0

Additional videos to accompany the booklet

• Record Breaking Lemon Battery https://youtu.be/DzLqJoczEpo   Lemon Battery (Electric Pile section)
• An Introduction to Circular Economy https://youtu.be/HG4teybr8nc Separating Materials section
• Bioplastics and Circular Economy https://youtu.be/cnm7fxcJnpw Separating Materials section
• Lithium Shuffle: https://youtu.be/r1fXpQdqHgE Lithium-ion Battery section
• Birmingham Battery Bunch: https://youtu.be/CYukVqaUBrY  Lithium-ion Battery section

Risk Assessments and activities

Risk Assessment: The full risk assessment for the activities contained in the CoCoElectro Bag can be found here:  CoCoElectro bag – RISK ASSESSMENT UNSIGNED

Overview of activities: An overview of how to carry out all of the activities in the CoCoElectro Bag can be found here: CoCoElectro Bag – activity protocols

Feedback

We would really appreciate any feedback you have on the CoCoElectro bag project so please comment on the page or send any related photos to us via the ‘Contact Us’ page.

Testimonies

Some quotes from CoCoElectro bag holders:

“Really fantastic bag of experiments and well explained with really exciting things to do with the children at home”

“We’ve had a few science kits in the past which have been disappointing but this has been great fun”