Homeschooling Resources
A lot of you are suddenly homeschooling, and so we'd like to share a few of our favourites for you, along with a few pointers on how they could be used.
Mini:mu - music with the glove
In lesson two, your class will learn about physical computing and the role coding plays in creative technologies. They will use a block code editor to create and upload their first code to the microbit, then program simple sounds and tunes to be triggered by movement and gesture.
How-to... load code onto a micro:bit
Schools' IT policies can vary, and so sometimes loading the code manually is necessary. We've put together some handouts (also available as slides) to help guide your students through the process.
Wobbly eggs
Ever held a midnight easter egg hunt? Well, now you can, thanks to these little creatures!
Mini:mu - making a musical glove
Our mini:mu glove kits are a great way of using an interest in crafting and music to get some sneaky coding in! We've been running workshops for a while now, and have now adapted them for the classroom.
Rainbow HAT Card 5
Write code to control the buzzer and create a simple tune.
Rainbow HAT Card 4
Take a pressure reading using the onboard BME280 weather sensor.
Rainbow HAT 3 - Taking a Temperature Reading
Take a temperature reading and show it on the display.
Rainbow HAT 2 - Displaying text
Create a program to display a simple four letter word on the Alphanumeric Character Display segments.
Rainbow HAT 1 - Installing
Attach the Rainbow HAT and install the required software and libraries (it's virtually the same process for all of our boards).
Rainbow HAT Activity Cards
The Rainbow HAT was developed for Google developers to play around with Android Things. We developed a set of activity cards at the time we launched the board, but now we've revised and reprinted them, and made them available here.
Noise:bit - festive lesson!
The noise:bit is a handy speaker to make music with, and there are many ways you can use your micro:bit to trigger that music. In this activity we look at the starting point of one gesture, one sound, and go from there.
Move it
You fancy having a go at a robotic song? Load the hex code below, hook up a noise:bit to your micro:bit, and learn the moves!
Jingle:bit all the way...
We're feeling festive, and so here's a quick activity you can do with two or more micro:bits, and one noise:bit.
Mixing colours with one LED
In this activity you will learn how to mix colours of light using just one common cathode LED and your micro:bit.
A squash and a squeeze
The enviro:bit, among other things, measures air pressure, but what is air pressure? Grab a sandwich bag and investigate!
Accessible controller workshop
Take a look at the workshop we delivered for Games Britannia on accessible games controllers. All materials are downloadable for use.
Datalogging from the micro:bit - the basics
Did you know you can log live sensor information from the micro:bit with nothing more than a Windows computer? This is currently a beta testing feature, and so there are, as micro:bit say, "a few rough edges".
Is it cold out there?
It's currently snowing in Sheffield, so we thought we'd combine a couple of our add-on boards for the micro:bit and make an scrolling weather
Clap to summon a duck with the enviro:bit
What you will learn: How to use a variable to store a "state" - in this case whether there is a duck or not! What
Micro:bit workshops at BETT
Today we ran some activities on the micro:bit stand, using our enviro:bit. There was duck-summoning, a rainbow detector, and of course, the nose-logger.
Animations on the scroll:bit
After some gentle persuasion, Phil has written a block so we can design our own images on the scroll:bit! Using a combination of two
Make a tilting ghost
This activity is based around the scroll:bit's grid numbers. If you haven't done activity 2, you might want to go back and have a
Displaying an icon anywhere on the scroll:bit
Displaying an icon on the scroll:bit is just as simple as displaying one on the micro:bit LED screen, but with the size of
Displaying words on the scroll:bit
You will use the scroll:bit to show messages at different speeds and brightness. What you need: a scroll:bit, a micro:bit, USB lead
Project series - Scroll:bit
The scroll:bit is a little display with a lot of pixels! Its 119 bright white LEDs are perfect for scrolling messages with your micro:
Enviro:bit kit - Make a Weather Station
Our enviro pHAT is so popular with schools that we made a micro:bit version - and now it's got its own kit! Complete with
Scroll:bit kit - the bear from the future
Once upon a time, there was a techno-bear from the future who travelled through space and time just to say hi. Or maybe we thought
Introducing Activity Cards
You may have noticed that our brand new bit:kits come with a lovely set of double sided project cards. In fact, all of our
Playing with Colours - Activity
Our Blinkt board is a really quick way to get started with physical computing - instant shiny feedback on your Python coding skills! When you
Classroom Starter Packs - New!
Want all the bits to get started with Raspberry Pi in your classroom? For the princely sum of £300 (through our education wholesale) you can
An overview of our micro:bit add on boards
If you have a busy classroom, you'll be pleased to know that our range of add ons for the micro:bit have quick and simple
How to get wholesale prices for your school
One of the things we get asked most is "how do you sign up for a schools discount?". It's pretty straightforward and this post shows