diff --git a/roles/ipynb/handlers/main.yml b/roles/ipynb/handlers/main.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..1f1c43415ae68ce5a098bddf6f3b5f3e35094886
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/ipynb/handlers/main.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+- name: activate ipywidgets
+  command: jupyter-nbextension enable --py --sys-prefix widgetsnbextension
+  become: yes
+
diff --git a/roles/ipynb/tasks/notebooks.yml b/roles/ipynb/tasks/notebooks.yml
index d006cf0443c42af15cae57ed7e3c7d14f3fda25f..d233f98de3e9ca9d252caa38b9499e3e4c88a6fc 100644
--- a/roles/ipynb/tasks/notebooks.yml
+++ b/roles/ipynb/tasks/notebooks.yml
@@ -20,3 +20,5 @@
   with_items:
   - ipywidgets
   tags: notebook
+  notify: activate ipywidgets
+