Jack-o'-lantern´s Lantern

This is a project you can easily do at home with kids and family during these spooky days! It consists in adding light to your pumpkin (it could be a real or an artificial one) so you can literally have a Jack-o´-lanterns´s Lantern.

You´ll only need:

• 2 red LEDs
• 1 switch
• 2 coin batteries (3V each one)
• 1 resistor
• Wires
• Soldering iron and tin (optional)

If you choose an artificial (plastic or ceramic) pumpkin then go to step 2 but if you choose a real pumpkin then you gotta carve it. This is a simple but funny step to do with friends or family:

1. Draw a face on you pumpkin
2. Cut a circle above it and remove it
3. Remove the pulp
4. Once you pumpkin is empty, you can cut the shapes of its face

The circuit is really simple, as you can see in the squematic image above. You just gotta serial connect the LEDs (anode-cathode). Then connect the cathode terminal (shorter terminal) to the negative pole of one battery, which is going to be serial connected to the other battery (+-) so we will have 6 volts instead of only 3. The positive terminal of the battery goes to the common terminal in switch and one of the lateral terminals of it will be connected to the anode terminal of LED (longer terminal). BUT REMEMBER to add a resistor to prevent LEDs from burning. In this circuit I´m using a 22k ohms resistor but the light intensity will vary depending on the resistor you use.

Whether your pumpkin is real or artifical, you can put the circuit inside of it. I´m decorating a ceramic one by putting the LEDs in its eyes and the switch in its nose with some glue, keeping the rest of the circuit inside of the pumpkin. You can connect more LEDs and put them all inside of your pumpkin to illuminate through its holes.

I hope you all have fun while doing this project! Happy Halloween