The Adafruit ARDX – v1.3 Experimentation Kit for Arduino.  This is by far the best way to get your feet wet with Arduino.  I use this exact kit when I teach an Arduino 101 class at The Mill in Minneapolis, MN.

We also offer a great starter pack for the Arduino.  This pack includes everything you need to follow along with Ladyada’s fantastic Arduino tutorial.  Once you have completed the online tutorials you will have some great gear to get you started on your first project.  We also have a budget Arduino pack that will allow you to finish Ladyada’s tutorial as well.

If you are looking to get into robotics, or teach a robotics class, look no further than the Parallax BOEBot.  This robot is built like a tank, and has a ton of functionality to get you or your students hooked on robotics.  The best part of the whole system is Parallax’s amazing online guide for the BOEBot.  Because of the built-in breadboard, once you have completed the tutorials, you can modify the bot to do what you want.

When you are in need of a microcontroller with a lot more processing power than the Arduino, the BeagleBone is a great place to start.  We have a starter pack that will get your project up and running in no time.

mbed is another really powerful microcontroller that is also super easy to use thanks to the mbed online IDE.  We have this neat mbed RFID/NFC starter kit that will not only introduce you to the mbed, but also teach you how to incorporate RFID/NFC into your projects.

If you want to teach someone of any age (and we mean any age) about electronics, be sure to check out littleBits.  This neat kit has a bunch of electronics components that snap together with magnets to create custom circuits.  There is no wrong way to hook up your littleBits, and they have a lot of great project examples online to give you some inspiration.

Adafruit for Educators! #backtoschool

Please visit our educator’s section to learn more about:

• Adafruit volume discounts and programs for educators, discounts galore!
• Adafruit electronic kits, products, Arduino & Raspberry Pi products for education, we have’em!
• Adafruit products and Arduino for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Used in schools!
• The Adafruit System, the best way to learn electronics!
• Adafruit iron-on “skill badges” / patches and partners, celebrate skills building!
• Resources for educators, our picks for educators!
• Adafruit for educators content on Adafruit.com, daily posts for educators!
• Circuit Playground – iPad/iPhone App For Educators, volume discounts via Apple’s edu program!
• Adafruit copyright permission for educators, educators can use them, hassle-free!

Visit.

This is the first of a series of posts looking at software that teaches kids about electronics. We will start by booting up the earliest electronics game that I know of called “Rocky’s Boots”. This was released by the Learning Company in 1982 and later followed up with “Robot Odyssey” in 1984. The same game engine was used by a number of other educational games at that time.

Rocky’s Boots teaches the user how to connect logic gates, flip flops, clocks and sensors to accomplish simple tasks. While I appreciate the game the logic gate tutorial section was more enjoyable for me to go through. Within minutes of following the logic gate tutorial you will see fascinating things. My favorite was connecting a not gate to itself and watching it become a oscillator.

There are two ways that I’ve played Rocky’s Boots.

1. The Easy Way – Web based using virtualapple. This is a little slow and takes away from the gaming experience.

2. The Cool Way - Local emulation on OS/X using Virtual ][. This was way more fun booting up a Apple //E disk and having a full screen retro gaming experience. I'm sure if you fired this emulator up in a public space any passer by would have to stop and comment.

Here is what I had to do to get the Apple II version of Rocky's Boots up and running on OS/X.

- download Virtual ][
- start virtualII
- download apple //e rom
* ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/emulators/rom_images/
* apple iie rom.zip
- Make sure rom file is unzipped and ends in .rom or .ROM
- Make sure rom file is in same folder as virtual][
- Start Virtual ][
- Press the Disks button and launch game.dsk
- Turn the speed dial to 3
- Use the caps lock key

What did I like about Rocky's Boots?

- The tutorials are focused. One room at a time
- Easy to learn key movements (i, j, k, m space bar)
- Excellent tutorials - logic gates, flip flops and clocks

What I do not like about Rocky's Boots.

- Devices like clackers and knives seemed too abstract when compared with modern electronics
- In game circuits seemed overly busy and complicated losing my attention

NEW PRODUCT – Discover Electronics Kit – 2.0. Discover Electronics Kit contains everything you need to learn the basics of electronics and make your own projects. It contains the most common electronics components as well as a prototyping breadboard for you to get started right away. Easy full color diagrams teach you how to bring your own ideas to life.The Discover electronics kit uses standard components. All of these parts can be used by the beginner or the advanced user. As you grow and learn all of the parts in the kit are still useful in more advanced projects and can be expanded on by using additional parts.

Requires 4 AA batteries. NOT INCLUDED

The kit comes with clear, solderless breadboard and a simple battery pack. Clearly labeled parts and simple directions means you can have your first circuit up and running in minutes.

The manual explains whats going on inside. Illustrations aid in understanding.

Not just an electronics kit; online resources turn the kit into a video course pack.

You can double check your work against the photographs.

Sparkle Labs is made up of designers and teachers. The Discover Electronics Kit is designed to make learning electronics easy and fun. It is a curated selection of the basic parts to get started and learning right away. They are standard components and are still useful when you are ready to build your own projects. More then just a kit, it is an online, video course which you can access here: Discover Electronics Course.

More photos here.

Includes:

• Transparent Solderless Breadboard
• AA Battery Holder
• 2 Alligator clips
• 2 NPN Transistors
• 2 Diodes
• 2 5V Voltage Regulators
• 2 Photoresistors
• 10 LEDs (Various Cool Colors)
• Speaker
• DIP Switch
• 1k, 10k, and 100k Potentiometer
• 556 Timer IC
• 2 Buttons
• Jumper Wires
• Multiple Value Resistors
• Multiple Value Ceramic and Electrolytic Capacitors
• 32 page Instruction Manual

This kit is RoHS compliant – Parts do not contain lead, cadmium or other harmful elements.

In stock and shipping now!