TechnologyEngineering

Smart-Home Privacy Lab

Grades 6-860-75 minSource: Creative Dad Company

Students wire up a simple smart-home helper, like a light that turns on with motion. Then they switch roles and think like a privacy detective: what data could a device like that collect, and who might want it? It is half maker project and half privacy check.

Budget levels

Amazon prices checked Oct 9-10, 2026 and may change

Materials links go to Amazon. Prices are estimates and may change. As an Amazon Associate, Creative Dad Company earns from qualifying purchases.

Quick Start

Digital downloads only.

$0 to buy. Printing noted separately.

Student time: one class period, one day.

Teacher prep / build-ahead: separate from student time.

Scale it

The default plan is one class period on a single day.

Scale back: Fit it into a shorter period, use fewer effects, or run a demo instead of a build.

Scale up: Add one extra effect, or spread the share-out across another day.

Ambiance video

Ambiance video coming soon from Creative Dad Studio

Criteria and constraints worksheetPrintinguse what you have

Full Experience

Required materials for the class.

$18.08 per class (class of about 30, 6 groups).

Student time: one day.

Teacher prep / build-ahead: separate from student time.

Scale it

The default plan is one school day.

Scale back: Fit the build into one period with fewer effects.

Scale up: Spread the work across days, or add more effects.

rechargeable batteriesRequired1 x 12 batteries12 batteries$18.08Amazon

Total Transformation

The bigger kit, with every optional item included.

$18.08 per class (class of about 30, 6 groups).

Student time: one day (one session, one-day event).

Teacher prep / build-ahead: separate from student time.

Scale it

The default plan is one session, a one-day event.

Scale back: Shorten the event, or run a demo for a smaller audience.

Scale up: Spread the build and the event across days, or invite a bigger audience.

Materials

Breadboard; Motion sensor; LED; Battery or low-voltage power source; Wires; Criteria and constraints worksheet; rechargeable batteries

Materials links go to Amazon. Prices are estimates and may change.

As an Amazon Associate, Creative Dad Company earns from qualifying purchases.

Breadboard
Breadboard
No link
Motion sensor module kit
Motion sensor
Shop
Small craft LEDs
LED
Shop
Battery or low-voltage power source
Battery or low-voltage power source
No link
Wires
Wires
No link

Steps

Learn how a PIR motion sensor works: it detects changes in infrared radiation given off by warm bodies. Record what this means for pets, heaters, and sunny windows.
Write a design brief with precise criteria (turns on within 2 seconds when a person enters a 3 meter zone, stays off for pets under knee height, shuts off after 60 seconds) and constraints (battery or USB power only, under a set parts budget, collects no more data than needed).
Add impacts to the brief: (a) people: list what data the device could collect, who could see it, and a rule such as data never leaves the device; (b) natural environment: estimate yearly energy use if the light stayed on all night versus with the sensor, and note what happens to used batteries. Turn each impact into a precise constraint, such as uses under 1 watt and runs on rechargeable batteries only.
Wire the PIR sensor and LED on a breadboard and test it against each criterion and constraint, recording pass or fail and false trigger counts over 10 trials.
Adjust sensitivity, timer, or placement and check whether the brief's criteria are now met. Note any criterion that was not precise enough and rewrite it.
Present the final design brief, test results, and the privacy and environmental safeguards.

Standards mapped

NGSS · MS-ETS1-1
Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.