There are a lot of DIY versions of the game Operation (including a really cute Adabot Operation game that uses the Adafruit Circuit Playground Express). But to try out this project with a group of middle-schoolers studying anatomy, I came up with a low-tech, low-cost version so every student could make their own.

• All the positive wires, or leads, of the components are connected to one piece of foil -- in this case, on the right side of the sample.
• All the negative leads are connected to a second piece of foil on the left.
• One end of the wire is connected to the positive side of the battery.
• The other end is connected to the metal tweezers (represented here by a blob of foil).
• The negative side of the battery is attached to the negative piece of foil.
• When you touch the "tweezers" to the positive piece of foil, the wire closes the circuit and zzzzzzap!

Close any open flaps and tape them down.

To make the top of the game board, you first need to cover the front of the box with construction paper. This is where you'll draw your design later.

Take a piece of construction paper and trace around the box. Cut out the paper. Use the glue stick to apply glue all around the front of the box, near the edges.

Attach the paper, lining up the edges and smoothing it down where needed.

Next, flip the box over. Draw a line around the sides of the box, near the back. You will use the back of the box later, and it helps to have a tiny bit of the sides still attached.

Cut along the line, leaving some of the flap attached. Trim the extra flap piece to make a tab you can pull if you need to open up the gameboard after it's all put together.

Set the back of the box aside for now. You will use it later as the bottom of the game board openings.

Traditionally, the Operation gameboard features an unclothed surgical patient. After giving it some thought, I decided to give my students other ideas to draw.

For inspiration, I provided diagrams of specific bodily systems. Students could make games where you do open-heart surgery, dissect a brain, or even extract teeth from a patient's mouth!

You don't even need to stick to a medical theme. Some DIY boards use robots and vintage cars. The prototype depicted in this guide is a beehive, and requires players to remove all the bees to get to the honey. And it's OK to be completely non-literal, too.

The gameboard's circuit is designed to allow you to make openings anywhere (and even add openings after its finished). So let your imagination run wild!

Cut foil to fit inside the box. (In the example here, I tried snipping off one corner so the motor would connect directly to the cardboard. It's probably not necessary.)

Apply glue stick around edges. Attach foil, smoothing as you go.

On the outside of the box, where you want to place the LED, attach a strip of foil tape at least 3 inches long and a little less than the height of the box (or just glue on a strip of kitchen foil).

For the motor: Strip the ends of its wires. The red wire is positive, but with the motor it doesn't really matter which way you connect them.

Attach the motor to the inside of the box, near the outside foil. Play around with ways to let the motor vibrate as much as possible. In this example, I fastened the wires near the motor to the box with clear tape, but left the motor hanging loose.

Use copper foil tape to attach the stripped end of one wire to the foil.

Use a jumbo push pin to poke a hole through the side of the box near the motor. Thread the other wire through to the outside of the box.

For the buzzer: Carefully bend the wires out to the sides. Poke a hole for the buzzer wire with the push pin. Position the buzzer with the negative wire sticking out through the hole. Use copper foil tape to attach the positive wire to the foil inside the box.

For both: Use the copper foil tape to connect the outside wire to the outside piece of foil.

Position the LED near the outside foil.

Poke a hole through the top of the box and insert the longer wire (positive lead).

Bend the lead so it touches the inside foil. Secure with copper tape.

Attach the shorter wire (negative lead) to the outside foil with copper tape.

Cut a piece of wire about 12" long. Strip the ends.

Connect one end to the positive (+) side of the battery with copper tape.

Connect the other end to the tweezer with copper tape.

Use CLEAR tape to attach the battery to the outside foil, positive side out. Insulate the rest of the outside foil and wires with clear tape.

For a better connection, use a binder clip to hold the battery tightly against the foil.

If you haven't already, draw your design on the construction paper. (See Build the Box for tips.)

Draw the openings, making sure they're big enough to get the body parts (or other game pieces you choose to make) in and out of the opening.

Cut the Foil

With the push pin, punch 4-6 holes around the openings.

On the foil side, cut across the openings in an X shape.

Fold the foil out of the way.

Cut the Cardboard

Cut out the cardboard holes. Save the cut-out piece to help you measure the game pieces that fit in the openings!

Fold the foil back up through the opening to the outside. Scrunch it up around the edges.

Add additional foil or foil tape if needed.

Make the Sides and Bottom of the Openings

Cut a strip of construction paper or cardstock to fit around each opening and tape into a loop.

Tape the loops around each opening on the foil side.

Add extra loops around the edges to support the bottom of the box.

Insert the bottom of box back into the box until it rests on the loops.

The binder clip should be outside the box bottom.

Trace around the openings you cut out onto a foam plate.

Draw game pieces to fit through the openings. Color if you want, then cut them out.

STOP AND TEST: Make sure you are able to remove the pieces with the tweezers. Adjust as needed.

When everything is working, you're ready to play!