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3 ways of making sound with the BBC MicroBit
Games on the MicroBit are way more fun when they make noise. Here are 3 ways of making sound that I’ve tried with things I had lying around the house, in ascending order of usefulness / awesomeness: 1)...
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MicroBit Happy Plant
I had a go at making Geekfish’s Happy Plant project myself – this aims to tell you if your plant is thirsty using a BBC MicroBit, a resistor, some nails and a bit of Python code. I edited the code...
View ArticleWhy I’m worried about the BBC micro:bit
I truly do not want to rain on anyone’s chips, so to speak, but as a KS3 teacher of Computing/ICT, I have to say I am a little nervous about the BBC micro:bit (I am trying to learn to type its name...
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What is the point of the BBC micro:bit mobile app?
I had another go with the BBC/Samsung micro:bit mobile app this week – and I’m afraid I was left wondering what the point of it is. Now, I should admit I spent no more than an hour playing with it,...
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BBC micro:bit – handle with care
Here’s the TL/DR version of this blogpost: if you are using the BBC micro:bit, especially with children, make sure they heed the advice on these panels in the middle of the back of the ‘Getting...
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Roundup of micro:bit resources
If you are lucky enough to have your class sets of BBC micro:bits for your Year 7s (and it seems plenty of schools are still waiting, mere weeks from the end of the academic year), here’s summary of...
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micro:bit Morse code transmitter
Here’s a pretty simple, and I think fun, way to introduce some quite sophisticated computing concepts with a few lines of Python, 2 BBC micro:bits and a crocodile clip lead or two (as you’d find in a...
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Wireless remote data logging with the BBC micro:bit
I was quite astonished to stumble upon this today – it really is relatively simple to use use the BBC micro:bit to log data remotely, indeed wirelessly. The micro:bit can log several kinds of data...
View ArticleFirst whole-class micro:bit lesson – reflection
I did my first whole-class lesson with the BBC micro:bit in a Year 7 class today – here are my impressions. It was a very short lesson so I just used the Technology Will Save Us demo that comes on...
View ArticleFirst week class teaching BBC microbit – reflection
I’ve introduced 3 year 7 classes to the BBC micro:bit this week – here are some thoughts. Organise your kit. I strongly recommend individually numbering each micro:bit, especially if you are keeping...
View ArticleSimple radio data communication using BBC Microbits
The excellent Python Mu editor makes it a doddle to get Microbits talking to each other wirelessly – check out the awesome firefly project on this page. I thought I’d have a go myself, and in no time...
View ArticleSimple Microbit wireless data class activities
I’ve been very impressed with the radio module in microbit Python. As an extension to a year 8 microbit lesson I got two of my pupils to test out the awesome firefly project. There was a very magical...
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Pongo: wireless microbit Python pong
I love the wireless capabilities of Python on the BBC microbit and I’ve been using it with some success in my Year 8 classes. I thought I’d have a go at writing a wireless Pong game in Python – it...
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Connecting a thermal printer to a BBC microbit
I have a Sparkfun thermal till-roll printer which I used for making my Little Box of Poems – this was a box that printed out a random poem at the press of a big red shiny button. The original one was...
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Microbit wireless data logger with printout
This project uses 2 microbits – one attached to a thermal till-roll printer as before. This time there’s a second microbit which can be battery-powered and put on a car, parachute, dog, whatever takes...
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Add a potentiometer to your microbit
I had a 10k potentiometer lying around that I saved from some junked electronics – it may have been a volume control or something, I can’t remember. Today I found a use for it when I found this...
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The FaderPhone microbit musical instrument
Today I made a (sort of) electronic musical instrument with a BBC microbit and an old BBC radio studio fader. It’s wired up like I did previously, only I used pin 1 in place of pin 0 – as pin 0 is...
View ArticleMicrobit-controlled radio / MP3 player
Here’s a quick project showing the power of David Whale’s bitio Python library. This gives Python on a Raspberry Pi, Mac or Windows PC access to the physical sensors on the BBC micro:bit. You can...
View ArticleStandalone microbit scrolling displays
I wanted to make a scrolling display for my desk on parents’ evening, and thought I might use a micro:bit. Then I thought 5 micro:bits might be even better. But how to get them scrolling one message...
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Simple KS2 microbit radio activities
My KS2 (upper Junior school) after-school Code Club have been split into 3 groups up until now. Some have been hacking Minecraft on one of our three Raspberry Pis, three sets of children have been...
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