I volunteer for Destination Imagination, and during competitions Appraisers are encouraged to wear a creative hat. As usual, I first came up with a project I wanted to try, and later figured out how to strap it to a hat. I left as much electronics exposed as possible because DI is a creative problem solving competition and the kids typically want to learn the how and why of my hat.
Bluefruit LE – Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE 4.0) – nRF8001 Breakout – v1.0: Our Adafruit Bluefruit LE (Bluetooth Smart, Bluetooth Low Energy, Bluetooth 4.0) nRF8001 Breakout allows you to establish an easy to use wireless link between your Arduino and any compatible iOS or Android (4.3+) device. It works by simulating a UART device beneath the surface, sending ASCII data back and forth between the devices, letting you decide what data to send and what to do with it on either end of the connection. Read more.
Arduino Micro with Headers – 5V 16MHz: Squee! It’s the cutest, tiniest little Arduino yet! The Arduino Micro packs all of the power of the Arduino Leonardo in a 1.9″ x 0.7″ (48mm x 18mm) size. Although it may look like a stick of gum, its actually a USB-native 8-bit microcontroller, with 32K of flash, and 2.5K of RAM. You can program it directly via the USB micro connector on one end (or for the advanced users, the 6-pin ISP header). The Arduino Micro is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega32u4 (datasheet), developed in conjunction with Arduino.cc and Adafruit. Read more.
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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 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!