Play dough circuit buzz wire game

We've played quite a few times with play dough circuits, using the ability of play dough to conduct electricity to explore many basic concepts of electricity.  We've only ever made light with LEDs, rather than trying any other electronic components, but I decided to buy a piezo buzzer to add some sound and hopefully some more interest and fun.  It's worth noting that if you're buying a buzzer for something similar, you need an active piezo buzzer.  A passive one won't work as it needs additional components in the circuit to make a sound.

Buzz 'wire' game setup

Rather than just letting my son loose with the buzzer, I thought I'd give him a starting point by incorporating the buzzer into a circuit which could be used as a game.  There are lots of buzz wire games around where the challenge is to move something along a wire from end to end without touching it.  These are beyond my 3 year old's fine motor skills so I simplified it, using a steel spoon as the wire and a coat hanger hook as the thing he had to move along.  This was all connected to a 9V battery using play dough, aside from a wire between the play dough and the coat hanger hook as the play dough was a bit old and crumbly and kept snapping when I tried it out with a play dough wire instead.

Playing the game (badly!)

I added an LED into the circuit in parallel with the buzzer i.e. if the buzzer sounds, the LED will also light, as it provides a more visual way to see where the electricity is flowing and one that my son is familiar with.  The idea is that to 'win' the game you have to move the coat hanger hook from one end of the spoon near the play dough to the end propped up by the pot without making the buzzer sound.

My son wanted to find out how it worked first, and tried touching the coat hanger hook to various points around the circuit.  It's fair to say that he liked the buzzer, and although he eventually had a go at the game (with some success, it definitely wasn't easy for him!), he decided pretty rapidly that it was more fun to play tunes by using the hook and spoon as a switch.  This went on for a while before he deconstructed the circuit, removed the hook and wire, connected the play dough together and continued to buzz the buzzer repeatedly!  After a while - during which I regretted purchasing something that makes a noise that it's hard to ignore - he decided he'd rather do something else.  I have no doubt that he'll ask to have another go at this sometime soon, and as his skill increases we could make the game rather more challenging!