Last week we had some great projects from catching snowflakes to sending Micro:bit messages, and from telling stories to rewriting projects in a slightly different way.
So to finish up, see what interesting project you can come up with, using either Scratch or the Micro:bit.
You can use the links from previous weeks for inspiration, but here are the links to the two editors:
Scratch Website: https://scratch.mit.edu/
New Micro:bit Block Editor: http://jumpto.cc/pxt-new
When we wrap up at the end, remember you can keep coding on your own. Imagine what you want to do and then experiment to work out how to do it.
]]>Rock, Paper, Scissors – The Next Generation
The first one is for the Rock, Paper, Scissors project. It was written using an older version of the Micro:bit Blocks Editor. Some of the blocks have changed in the new one, so can you use the instructions (below), but actually write the project in the new editor? What has changed?
Rock, Paper, Scissors project: https://codeclub.aptanet.org/2018/02/rock-paper-scissors-microbit/
New Micro:bit Block Editor: http://jumpto.cc/pxt-new
Random Number Sender – With Messages
The second one is for the Random Number Sender project. The original generates a random number and sends it to another Micro:bit, so can you adapt it to send a message? Hint: you don’t need to generate a number, and instead of using a number you are sending a string of characters.
Random Number Sender project: https://codeclub.aptanet.org/2019/01/random-number-sender/
New Micro:bit Block Editor: http://jumpto.cc/pxt-new
Create an Animated Story
Use Scratch to create and animated story, a bit like a cartoon perhaps. You could make the sprites move around and use say to get them to talk to each other with speech bubbles. This one isn’t as much modifying a previous project, but you might find some useful hints in the Chatbot project.
Scratch website: https://scratch.mit.edu/
If you need any of the previous weeks links they are still available on each weeks page.
]]>For those sticking with Scratch:
If you are doing Scratch, here is a link to the website that will open in a new tab. If you can’t remember your login I have details of the club ones you can use.
The Rock Band project:
https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/rock-band
The Chatbot project:
https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/chatbot
If you are doing a Micro:bit project:
Once you have tested the project and got it working you can download it onto one of our Micro:bits for a real life test.
Rock, Paper, Scissors
https://codeclub.aptanet.org/2018/02/rock-paper-scissors-microbit/
Note that this project uses the old Micro:bit block editor. See if you can work out how to adapt it to the new one.
Once you have completed the Random Number Sender below you could also adapt this one to play against another Micro:bit by sending messages between them.
Random Number Sender
https://codeclub.aptanet.org/2019/01/random-number-sender/
You will need to work in pairs for this one, with two Micro:bits.
Can you adapt the project to work with more Micro:bits and send the number to a random one?
]]>We have some Micro:bits available to test the following projects on once you have got them working in the online editor.
Rock, Paper, Scissors
https://codeclub.aptanet.org/2018/02/rock-paper-scissors-microbit
Note that this project uses the old Micro:bit block editor. See if you can work out how to adapt it to the new one.
Once you have completed the Random Number Sender below you could also adapt this one to play against another Micro:bit by sending messages between them.
Random Number Sender
https://codeclub.aptanet.org/2019/01/random-number-sender
You will need to work in pairs for this one, with two Micro:bits.
Can you adapt the project to work with more Micro:bits and send the number to a random one?
For those sticking with Scratch:
If you are doing Scratch, here is a link to the website that will open in a new tab. If you can’t remember your login I have details of the club ones you can use.
Here is a link to the Boat Race project:
]]>If you are doing Scratch, here is a link to the website that will open in a new tab. If you can’t remember your login I have details of the club ones you can use.
Here is a link to the Boat Race project:
https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/boat-race
There are two Micro:bit projects you could try.
Rock, Paper, Scissors
https://codeclub.aptanet.org/2018/02/rock-paper-scissors-microbit/
Random Number Sender
With this one you will need to work with somebody else using two Micro:bits so you can send the number from one to the other.
]]>- First, head to https://makecode.microbit.org/#editor
- You will now have the code editor ready to use, so let’s get started. When we start we want to set a ‘radio group’ and show a tick so we know the Micro:bit is ready to go. In the ‘on start’ block add the blocks shown below:
Now we need a large block which does several things, and keeps doing them forever. You will put these blocks into the ‘forever’ block. This is what they do:
- if button A is pressed (button A is the left one)
- pick a random number between 0 and 9 and keep it safe in a variable
- send the random number over the radio
- show the number on the display (so we know what it was
- pause for 2 seconds
- set the display back to the tick so we are ready for the next one
So each Micro:bit can receive the numbers as well as send we need a block for that. It uses an ‘on radio received’ block to show the number for 2 seconds and then wait for another.
Here are some things to try:
What happens if you change the number in the ‘radio set group’ block?
Can you send a message instead of a number?
]]>If you are doing Scratch, here is a link to the website that will open in a new tab. If you can’t remember your login I have details of the club ones you can use.
You can either carry on with the Lost in Space project if you didn’t finish last week:
https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/lost-in-space
Or you you can try a Boat Race one, which is hopefully something different to what you are doing with Scratch in class:
https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/boat-race
For those who are familiar with Scratch already from Code Club, you can try a Micro:bit Rock, Paper, Scissors project. No need for Scratch, but it does look fairly similar. Once you have got it working and tested on the computer I have some Micro:bits you can try downloading it onto:
https://codeclub.aptanet.org/2018/02/rock-paper-scissors-microbit/
]]>To save you typing them, here are the links you will need today:
Here is the link to Scratch, which will open a new tab (look along the top and you should see it appear). You will need your account so you can save your project:
Here is the project link. We will work through this together:
]]>- First, head to http://jumpto.cc/pxt-new
- You will now have the code editor ready to use, so let’s set an image for the start of the game. Drag a show leds box across into the start block.
What sort of things do we do? Well Scratch is probably the main one. This is a programming language that allows you to create things by dragging coloured blocks around to tell the computer what you want to do. These are two games created by some past attendees:
Guide the cat through the maze avoiding the obsticles – completely from the imagination of Matthew who created it. You can try it out at: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/16878140/
A three player game where two try to stop the third getting to safety – completely from the imagination of Charlie who created it. You can try it out at: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/16877567/
Where we have been able to carry on into extra terms we have also explored HTML, to create web pages, and Python, where you can do more, but type in the commands. I have also brought in Raspberry Pi computers and netbooks with a robotic arm, and a matrix of coloured lights that can be controlled from Python.
