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Cardboard City Power Company

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Grades 3-575-90 minSource: Creative Dad Company

Kids run a pretend power company, deciding how to distribute a limited supply of energy, represented by battery-powered lights, across a cardboard city's homes, hospital, and school. It's a clever way to make energy trade-offs and circuits feel real.

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Every level teaches the same core idea — pick the one that fits your time, budget, and energy today.

Prep: 10 minActivity: 45 min1 session~$5/groupOne table or a clear section of floorBeginner-friendly

Setup

Place common or recycled supplies for Cardboard City Power Company on one work surface and choose a safe area for the test. Read the four activity directions aloud; drawings, paper models, and household substitutes may replace specialized materials, and no digital tool is required.

Activity

  1. Look at the cardboard city's buildings and predict which ones most urgently need power if supply is limited.
  2. Build simple circuits connecting LED lights to each building using copper tape and a shared limited power source.
  3. Test the city at night by turning on all lights at once, then redesign the circuit or ration power when the supply runs out before every building lights up.
  4. Present the final power plan to the city council, explaining which buildings were prioritized and why.

Done when: The group produces the Cardboard City Power Company solution, completes the described test, makes the revision called for by the evidence, and supports its final explanation with an observed or measured result.

Materials

cardboard buildings, small LED lights, coin batteries, copper tape or wire, switches, a shared battery pack to represent limited power

Shown for the Quick Start version — switch tabs above to see what changes.

Disclosure: Materials links below go to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, Creative Dad Company earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Steps

  1. Look at the cardboard city's buildings and predict which ones most urgently need power if supply is limited.
  2. Build simple circuits connecting LED lights to each building using copper tape and a shared limited power source.
  3. Test the city at night by turning on all lights at once, then redesign the circuit or ration power when the supply runs out before every building lights up.
  4. Present the final power plan to the city council, explaining which buildings were prioritized and why.

Standards it satisfies

  • NGSS · 4-PS3-2

    Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.