Other than playing with Bunsen burners (woops, I mean ‘sensibly using’) during science lessons in school, I didn’t have that much fun. One of the few things that caught my attention was making circuits. Connecting wires and battery packs to make a tiny bulb light up was awesome, but now a Tokyo based start-up have created an even cooler way to make electric circuits.

With the help of crowdfunding, AgIC has created a pen that conducts electricity. Yep, a pen.
The $14.99 pen has silver based conductive ink which, when drawn on to their special circuit paper, allows users to light up LEDs or turn on motors.

As soon as the ink is dry, it is conductive – allowing the electricity to flow across and through the lines you have drawn. The AgIC conductive paper feels just like normal paper, so you can cut and fold it and the silver ink will bed with it (but if you cut it it won’t work, obviously!).

The pen will draw up to 40 meters, allowing you to get quite a bit of circuit for your money (37 U.S. cents per meter if you want to be exact!). But be careful with using up your circuit paper which is nearly $1 per A6 sheet.

The Japanese company’s who makes all of this have the intention of making electric circuit building accessible for all ages and experience levels. I reckon these magic pens would go down a treat in UK schools, but how many desks, jumpers, and arms would end up covered in silver conductive ink?

You can buy the AgIC pen and paper here