My wife wafted a leaflet under my nose that Lincoln had had from school @YsgolBrynHedydd about a Mini-Beast Habitat competition. That’s how it all started. Firstly, its the kind of task that’s right up my street as it involves Lincoln and insects. Not to mention its a COMPETITION. Not that i’m competitive or anything!
So the idea behind the task was to make a mini beast habitat fit for an insect (albeit slow moving from what I can gather, you know, snail, beetle, mere wood louse, that kind of thing) The task involves hunting for recyclable stuff to make the habitat with and then put a range of materials in there to see which habitat particular beasts prefer – grass, pebbles, leaves etc.
So with an old, large Rice Krispie box ready for a makeover, I got thinking how we could make a habitat that not only wins a place in the nature area but also one that would stand out from the crowd. If I was an arts or crafts teacher I am sure it would have been adorned with all manner of paper mache attire, glued and painted in glorified poster paint technicolor. But seeing as I am an IT/Computing teacher, I had to get some tech in there somewhere!
Initially I did a quick sketch and wrote a list of things to consider, I explained to Lincoln why these things were important as we planned our project. He is just happy he gets to play with a Raspberry Pi in the process!
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
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.
Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: CircuitPython 8.1.0 and 8.2.0-beta0 out and so much more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi