Glowing Figurines

Students create decorative/meaningful figures and make them light up with embedded LEDs. Novelty silicone ice cube trays are used for the molds. Hot glue is squirted into the molds to create the shapes. LEDs are embedded in the glue before it hardens. Colored and glitter hot glue sticks work well to create colors and glowing effects. Other items could be embedded in the figure such as sticks for mounting or wire for hanging. 

Little experience is needed. 

Use a couple of hot glue guns to melt enough glue quickly. The figures can be used as decorations or emblems, and can be controlled by any circuit that provides 3V and 20 mA per LED. Coin cell batteries (CR2032) are fine for powering several LEDs, and do not require current-limiting resistors.