For many kids with physical disabilities playing with off-the-shelf toys is not possible, depending on their unique abilities a toy might not be accessible.
However, if a child can move their head, feet, arm, mouth or any other part of their body it is possible to use a switch to play with the toy.
Adding switch jacks to a toy will not affect the original quality of use, the existing buttons will operate as normal and kids who use accessibility switches will now be able to operate the toy.
The event is a neat twist on the traditional soldering workshop, with a great mission at it’s heart, and great people running it. It’s also a lot of fun!
The idea is simple:
you bring a (new) battery-powered toy to be modified and then donated.
John and his team will teach you how to solder up new hardware so that the toy can be used by a child with a disability.
all the additional hardware and tools will be provided.
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
If anyone happens to be in the midwest, there is also Replay For Kids. These are great charities and great ways to show your friends how much fun soldering can be!
Since all the accessibility jacks are the same, an standard 1/8″ mono audio jack you can make your own switches with a mono audio plug! Solder two wires to the plug and some wire tin foil around your knees. Tap knees together. You got yourself a fun switch.
If anyone happens to be in the midwest, there is also Replay For Kids. These are great charities and great ways to show your friends how much fun soldering can be!
http://www.replayforkids.org/
What an excellent project!
Any good suggestions for where accessibility switches can be sourced from?
Accessibility switches can be purchased from most assistive technology stores/resellers. 2 popular ones are Enabling Devices (http://enablingdevices.com/catalog/capability_switches) and Enablemart (http://www.enablemart.com/Catalog/Switches).
Since all the accessibility jacks are the same, an standard 1/8″ mono audio jack you can make your own switches with a mono audio plug! Solder two wires to the plug and some wire tin foil around your knees. Tap knees together. You got yourself a fun switch.