Belonging GamesLightbulb Day
This is a day to look inside a lightbulb. A thin wire called a filament glows white-hot, and the missing air inside the glass keeps it from burning up. It took inventors about forty years of testing to make one that lasted.
Today's files 12
- 1Educator guideThe flow, the read-aloud, every game
- 8To printTrivia/Facts, Bingo, I-Spy, Word Search, LoopTalk, How to Draw, Coloring, Certificate
- 3To projectFacts, Bingo caller, Trivia game show
Run it today
- GradesK–5
- Group1 to 30 kids
- Time10 to 60 min
- PrepNone
- 10minRead the opener aloud, then project the Facts deck.
- 30minAdd the Facts sheet and Bingo. Five in a row shouts “LET IT GLOW!”
- 60minAdd two activities the kids pick, the Trivia game show and certificates.
About the day
Read it aloud1 minute
“Today is Lightbulb Day, when we look inside the glass at the thin wire that makes a bulb glow.”
That thin wire glows white-hot the instant electricity flows through it and warms it up. Most of the air is pumped out of a bulb to create a vacuum around the filament. Without oxygen inside the glass, the glowing filament cannot simply catch fire and burn up. Scientists around the world spent about forty years testing filaments before one finally lasted for hours. One early test used a carbonized cotton thread, and that glowing filament lasted only hours. That cotton filament glowed for about 14.5 hours, a record everyone hoped to beat soon.
For staff
Making this day welcoming for everyone
Some children love the science and some love the drawing; both are a good way into today.
Good to know
- September's Lightbulb Day is about having ideas. This one is about how a bulb works.
Three facts kids remember
All 15 are on the Trivia/Facts sheet- That bamboo filament could glow for up to 1,200 hours, a huge jump in lasting power.
- Later inventors switched to a metal called tungsten, which made an even sturdier, longer-lasting filament.
- Filling a bulb with nitrogen gas instead of a plain vacuum later made it shine even more brightly.
Talk about it
- Tell a partner what you think makes a filament glow.
- Ask a friend which lasted longer, cotton or bamboo.
- Tell a classmate one material you would test as a filament.
No printer?
Switch on
- Everyone sits with eyes closed: the room's lights are off.
- Tap one child on the shoulder. They open their eyes, stand and say “On!”
- They tap the next child, and the room lights up one bulb at a time.
Also today Wed, Dec 9
- STEMGrace Hopper DayBorn in 1906, Grace Hopper was a U.S. Navy admiral and computer pioneer who built the first compiler and coined the term 'computer bug' after finding a moth in a machine.Open this day
- CulturalTanzania Free DayTanzania, then called Tanganyika, became independent from Britain in 1961.Open this day
Lightbulb Day is one day. Your staff get one like it every afternoon.
A daily, plug-and-play enrichment service for elementary after-school programs. Ready-to-run activities arrive in your team's Google or Outlook Calendar, and your own staff lead them without planning.
- Every day of the year, covered.
- Easy to run, even for new or untrained staff.
- Meaningful enrichment, not just busywork.