Hardware accessories extend the capabilities of the humble BBC micro:bit, by building on a familiar portable coding platform for mobile devices and Windows/Mac/Linux computers.
Listed in order from easiest to advanced, here’s the top 5 hardware add-ons to get started with:
Electro Fashion E-Textiles Kit for the BBC micro:bit
The E-Textiles Kit is great for beginners to easily extend your micro:bit’s capabilities with washable red and white LED lights that can be sewn into costumes or clothing. Turning lights on an off with the micro:bit is as easy as connecting lights to the micro:bit pins, and dragging across a couple of code blocks in the browser.
Here’s some ideas:
Use the conductive thread to connect the lights on material, without the need for wires running everywhere.
Arrange lights in patterns and control them with code leveraging the micro:bit’s built-in buttons, temperature, light, and touch sensors; or by simply shaking or tilting the micro:bit.
Remember that the micro:bit can scroll text or display icons on its built-in light matrix too!
We recommend that all micro:bits, batteries, and wires are removed before washing – the conductive thread and sewable lights are washable.
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: New Thonny and Git Versions, Plenty of Projects and More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
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! 