Many of you who have been following me over the years knows that Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year, and that I always build a project or two for Element14. This year I decided to mix things up a little bit and build two separate projects. For this first project I wanted to do something simple that a family could sit down and put together over the course of a weekend. As you can imagine, that presented a challenge in that this project had to be quick and simple, yet challenging enough to help teach all parties involved a thing or two about embedded electronics.
I came up with a few ideas, and after talking it over with the team here at Element14, it was decided that I would build an illuminated candy bucket that parents could build with their children within a Saturday, or Sunday if needed. So you know what that means right? NeoPixels! Yes, for the third year in a row, I am incorporating my favorite lighting components into a halloween project. Now that I had a concept, I needed to figure out which child-friendly development board I would use to breath life into the NeoPixels. The Arduino Uno was my obvious first choice, but then I realized that this was the perfect opportunity to build something with the BBC Micro:bit. (If you would like to learn more about the Micro:bit, click here.) With the plan coming together I put in a request for the hardware, and a few days later I had a few Micro:bit’s on my doorstep, and I was able to begin work on the project.
Each Monday is Micro:bitMonday here at Adafruit! Designed specifically for kids and beginners, the micro:bit is a pocket-sized computer that you can code, customize and control to bring your digital ideas, games and apps to life! Play, learn, explore: get started with micro:bit! Adafruit is an authorized Micro:bit reseller- check out all of our posts, tutorials and Micro:bit related products!
Experimenting with your own Micro:bit project? Use the hashtag #microbitmonday so we can feature your inspiring work on the Adafruit blog!
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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.
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
Adafruit IoT Monthly — AI Teddybear, Designing Accessible IoT Products, and more!
Each Monday is Micro:bitMonday here at Adafruit! Designed specifically for kids and beginners, the micro:bit is a pocket-sized computer that you can code, customize and control to bring your digital ideas, games and apps to life! Play, learn, explore: get started with micro:bit! Adafruit is an authorized Micro:bit reseller- check out all of our posts, tutorials and Micro:bit related products! 