It’s back to school month here at Adafruit! You know what that means, right? We’ve got kits on kits on kits for all the educators out there. We’ve even got tutorials to match.
We’ve created a product guide below for Educators and students who are getting started with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and more! We think the kits listed here are a great introduction for students and educators at the beginner and intermediate levels. The product pages contain links to step-by-step tutorials in the Adafruit Learn System and other resources made available by the manufacturers. Please read through the details thoroughly and contact us if you have questions.
We’ve included some of our classic kits as well as new products added over the last year.
Please click through to each product page for more info!
Raspberry Pi 2 Model B Starter Pack – Includes a Raspberry Pi 2: Why not trick out your fresh new board with some accessories? The Pi 2 is a big deal – a big, big deal. It has an upgraded ARMv7 multicore procssor and a full Gigabyte of RAM – meaning you’re going to see ~2x the performance on processor-upgrade only and 4x on average for mutliple-core procssors. That’s up to like 7.5x increase in speed without taking into account the 1 Gig of RAM.
Should you be excited? Yes. Should you be so excited that you forget everything you need to get started? No. Read more!
Also, check out our Introduction the the Raspberry Pi 2 – Model B in our Adafruit Learn System for more details on the Pi included in this starter pack!
Adafruit ARDX – v1.3 Experimentation Kit for Arduino (Uno R3) – v1.3: Adafruit is currently shipping R3 of the Arduino Uno
Interested in making neat stuff with an Arduino but not sure where to start? This kit includes all the pieces needed to complete 11 different circuits, along with a experimenter’s guide booklet & breadboard layout sheets. Basically everything you need to be playing within minutes of its arrival. No soldering required!
Includes the Thru-hole (THM) type Arduino Uno R3. The new Uno is the latest version after the Duemilanove, with an improved USB interface chip. Like the Duemilanove, it not only has an expanded shield header with a 3.3V reference and a RESET pin (which solves the problem of how to get to the RESET pin in a shield) AND a 500mA fuse to protect your computer’s USB port, but ALSO an automatic circuit to select USB or DC power without a jumper! The Uno is pin and code-compatible with the Duemilanove, Diecimilla and older Arduinos so all your shields, libraries, code will still work. The new R3 (3rd revision) of the UNO has a few minor updates, with an upgrade to the USB interface chip and additional breakouts for the i2c pins and an IORef pin. For more information about the UNO, the R3 and what the updates mean, please check our UNO FAQ!
Drawdio kit – v1.1: Drawdio is an electronic pencil that lets you make music while you draw! It’s great project for beginners: An easy soldering kit with instant gratification. Essentially, its a very simple musical synthesizer that uses the conductive properties of pencil graphite to create different sounds. The result is a fun toy that lets you draw musical instruments on any piece of paper.
Read more and check out the learn guide here!
Chibitronics Starter Kit: Make almost any surface glow, sense, or interact with Chibitronics circuit stickers!
Circuit stickers are an imaginative and easy way to make fun electronics projects without coding, soldering, or maker experience. Just stick your circuit sticker onto a surface and add a battery to get a unique project that reps your maker spirit. You can even connect stickers with conductive materials like copper tape or even conductive paint to create elaborate designs and art projects.
SpikenzieLabs Calculator Kit: The SpikenzieLabs Calculator Kit another one of a kind, 100% original SpikenzieLabs’ kit. Easy to solder with through hole parts that it is both useful and super cool! Comes as a kit of electronic and plastic parts, after it is assembled you will have a lovely battery-powered pocket calculator. If you’re feeling extra-adventurous, the chip is programmed with an Arduino-compatible bootloader so it’s very hackable as well. Some tools are required to assemble: soldering iron, solder, and wire cutters. You’ll also want some masking tape and a hex wrench (although we just used pliers assemble the screws)
Adafruit Ohm Sweet Ohm Cross-Stitch Kit: A cross-stitch kit that’s also a resistor chart! Not only is this kit fun to make (and good for beginner stitchers), when it’s all done it functions as a handy resistor reference chart. This Adafruit original kit comes complete with everything you need to get started:
- 14-count aida cloth – 15″x18″
- 6″ embroidery hoop (Susan Bates “super grip lip” style)
- Two size 24 tapestry needles
- All the floss you’ll need to stitch this design – 16 skeins in total
- Full color printed pattern and instructions
Cupcade: the Raspberry Pi-Powered Micro Arcade Cabinet Kit – v1.0: Never be bored again with an adorable little arcade cabinet you can fit in your bag! This Raspberry Pi-powered kit combines our sharp PiTFT 2.8″ display, mini thumbstick, and mini arcade push buttons and a whole bunch of components to create the most adorable arcade cabinet in the known universe.
Comes as a big kit with lots of parts including all electronic components, the laser cut case, power adapter, and a blank SD card (you’ll need to burn the CupCade image on). You provide a Raspberry Pi model B, a soldering iron, solder, wire, basic electronic hand tools, tape, etc. New, as of June 6, 2014 – We now have a ‘release candidate’ kit which is easier to build than the Beta kit, with a snazzy custom controller PCB! This kit has a lot of steps, so its best for people who have soldered before and even better, have a little Raspberry Pi/Linux hacking under their belt in case some configuration-file-editing is required. Give yourself a nice, long Saturday afternoon to put together (about 4-6 hours altogether).
MintyBoost Kit – v3.0: The world’s first and only open-source hardware charger: The MintyBoost®!
New version! Works with the new iPhone 4 & 5 and more! Please review the Minty Boost project page(s) before purchase and assembly!, some phones require different modifications to the kit to charge properly! Some phones such as the *iPhone 3gs are very sensitive to charging via USB and may not work in all environments or configurations.
Make your own iPod/iPhone/GPS/etc… battery-pack and recharger!
This project includes all the electronic parts necessary to build your own MintyBoost: a small & simple (but very powerful) USB charger for your iPod (or other mp3 player), camera, cell phone, and any other gadget you can plug into a USB port to charge.
August is Back to School Month here at Adafruit! Each week we’ll be bringing you a two #BackToSchool posts on the blog! Stay tuned for product and gift guides, tutorials from the Adafruit Learning System, and inspiration from around the web! Get started by checking out Adafruit’s educational resources, such as our kits and project packs, suggested products for young engineers, blog posts for educators and an extensive selection of books to help you learn!
