Search Results
Showing results 1 to 20 of 30
A-Mazing Robot
Source Institutions
This activity lets you program your 'robot' (a willing friend) to pick up and dispose of some 'toxic waste' using as few commands as possible.
Kinetic Sculpture: Program the Pico Cricket to Make Your Art Light Up or Spin
Source Institutions
Use a Pico Cricket (micro-controller) to animate your art! You can program a Pico Cricket to make your art spin, light up, or make music.
Musical Sculpting Machine: Squeeze Play-Doh to Make Music
Source Institutions
Play-Doh is conductive! Use the semiconductive qualities of Play-Doh to make your own squeezable instrument. Pico Cricket is required.
Fruit Xylophone: Fruit Salad Instrument of the Future!
Source Institutions
This is a perfect summertime lunch activity! Pico Cricket is required (micro controller). First, get a bunch of cut up fruit, line them up, then plug a piece of fruit with a Pico Cricket sensor clip.
Interactive Pencil Drawings: Drawings That Tell a Story!
Source Institutions
Margaret Pezalla-Granlund, a Minnesota artist, came up with this really fun and surprising activity using graphite from a pencil, connected with a Pico Cricket to tell a story: "The first time I saw s
Count the Dots: Binary Numbers
Source Institutions
Data in computers is stored and transmitted as a series of zeros and ones. Learners explore how to represent numbers using just these two symbols, through a binary system of cards.
Programming Languages: Harold the Robot
Source Institutions
In this activity related to computer programming, learners give directions to a "robot" (either an adult or another learner) and find out which instructions the robot is able to follow, and how their
Color by Numbers: Image Representation
Source Institutions
Computers store drawings, photographs, and other pictures using only numbers. Through this activity, learners decode numbers to create pictures using the same process that computers use.
Lightest and Heaviest: Sorting Algorithms
Source Institutions
Computers are often used to put lists into some sort of order—for example, names into alphabetical order, appointments or e-mail by date, or items in numerical order.
Programming Languages: Marching Orders
Source Institutions
In this activity about computer programming, learners follow instructions in a variety of ways in order to successfully draw figures.
Pickle-oh!: Musical Pickle Instrument
Source Institutions
What's a Pickle-Oh? Two pieces of pickle on a stick are connected to a Pico Cricket (micro controller). When you slide the pickles apart the note changes.
Clap Sensor: Build a Sound Sensor Using a Pico Cricket
Source Institutions
This activity requires a Pico Cricket (tiny computer). Learners work on designing and building a sound sensor out of household materials, like plastic wrap and cardboard.
Peanut Butter and Jelly Robot
Source Institutions
This is an activity about robotics programming. Learners will discover how precise programmers have to be as they instruct a friend to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Art Cars
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners design miniature cars. Learners can create a telephone car, soccer car, merry-go-round car, or any other theme car they can imagine.
Night Lights
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners create night lights using a plastic cup, programmable PICO Cricket, tri-color LED, and sensor.
Push Pull Painter
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners create painting machines that can paint moving forwards and backwards.
Treasure Hunt: Finite-State Automata
In this computer science activity about finite-state automaton (on page 45 of the PDF), learners use a map and choose various pathways to find Treasure Island.
Overnight Painting Machine: Pico Cricket Activity
Source Institutions
This activity requires a Pico Cricket (tiny computer).
Wandering Wands
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners construct wands that play different notes depending on information from light sensors programmed via a PICO Cricket.
Musical Ice: How to Make an Ice Theremin
Source Institutions
Build a musical ice theremin by programming a micro controller, like a Pico Cricket to respond to resistance generated by the ice melting, or the ice being touched.