Twenty years have passed since the final Ramona Quimby book was published, and young readers may notice the absence of smart phones, streaming television, or other technologies ubiquitous in contemporary life. (In an interview in 2006, the ninety-five-year-old Beverly Cleary admitted that she did not know how to use the internet.) Even if the books begin to appear dated, the themes not just of childhood but also of life endure: everyday elation and insecurity, pride in artwork and hard-won callouses, the desire to be liked and seen, the hope that the people we love are happy. The joy of stomping in mud puddles and eating whipped cream.
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.
