Welcome to the micro:bit Live Lesson - Hack your bedroom activities

Amy:
In this tutorial I'm going to show you how you can create a desk lamp that will turn itself on when it gets dark. And even better, you can programme it to be whatever colour you like.

Amy:
The first thing that we need to do is sort out the legs of our neo-pixel LED. The first leg is a [data in], the next leg is positive, and the third leg is negative.

Amy:
Solder the male end of a male-female connector to each of the legs of your LED.

Amy:
Attach the female ends of each of the wires to the appropriate pins on the break-out board for the micro bit.

Amy:
We're going to be using and LDR. This sensor is able to detect the levels of light in the room so the micro bit can decide when it's dark enough to turn the LED on. Poke it through the paper template that you've already cut out.

Amy:
Attach the male end of a male to female connector to each of the LDR legs. Female end of one of the wires to three volts, and the either to either pin zero, one or two. If you want to keep your LED upright within the project, you can use a little bit of tack to hold it in place. Plug in your micro bit and download the code that will display the ambient light leadings.

Amy:
How are you going to light up your room?

Amy:
It's time to get musical. In this tutorial I'm going to be showing you how you can transform a blank canvas into a real musical instrument using your micro bit.

Amy:
The first step is to draw out the keys onto your canvas using the stencil provided.

Amy:
You can stick the stencil onto the inside of your canvas, and using your light you can easily see where to draw the lines.

Amy:
Fill in your design using conductive paint, but be careful as it could get quite messy. I'm using a rubber brush, but it doesn't matter if you don't have one.

Amy:
Poke two holes into each of the keys. This will allow you to pull a wire through and to connect each of the keys to the micro bit.

Amy:
Make sure that the wire at the back is secure. You can either use more conductive ink or you can solder them together.

Amy:
Now we're going to wire everything up, but this can be quite tricky, so make sure you pay close attention to the diagram provided.

Amy:
Now we need to upload the code. Once it's finished uploading, you can check that all your connections are secure by placing your finger on the circle that's connected to [grand], and then touching each of the other keys.

Amy:
Any keys aren't working, go back and check that all the connections are secure.

Amy:
And there it is, you've created your very own musical canvas using the micro bit.

Amy Mather:
In this tutorial, I'lI be showing you how you can lighten up your bedroom with your own unique piece of art, powered by the micro:bit.

Amy Mather:
I've chosen to create the Taurus constellation, but you can make whatever you like.

Amy Mather:
Step one: sketch out the constellation shape onto the canvass. Using a sewing needle, poke two holes - one for each LED light - through the canvass. Put the holes where you want each LED to go. Poke all your LEDs through the holes that you've just made into the canvass, ensuring their legs are all facing the same way… Flip over the canvass and then trim all the negative legs to make them even shorter. Strip the wire back to ensure there's enough metal to solder… Don't forget to keep your soldering iron clean as you're working.

Amy Mather:
Solder all of the shorter legs of your LEDs together. This will form the ground or negative rail… Referring back to your plan, work out which positive legs need to be connected together… If you want to, you can use different coloured wire for clarity.

Amy Mather:
The micro:bit needs to be connected to the circuit that you've just made. If you want to be able to reuse your micro:bit, ensure that you use crocodile clips instead of soldering… Finally, we can upload our code onto our micro:bit and then hang it on our wall for our friends to admire.