Awesome Ava and Dorky Dad Make a Magic Wand with MakeCode and Circuit Playground

Ava and I ventured into the world of coding and making using MakeCode and Circuit Playground.

I have been using MakeCode quote a bit lately with some Micro:bit projects I have been building, but this was the first time using it with Circuit Playground. Ava and I had a blast making our magical wand. This is just the start to a whole new project line as she was already developing new ideas.

For this project you will need the following:

• Circuit Playground Express or you can get it from here
• Paint Stick or something similar to serve as the wand
• Basic craft materials to decorate and design the wand
• MakeCode  for coding
• Imagination

This project is very simple and one of the first projects listed on the MakeCode site for the Circuit Playground.

We also subscribe to the Adabox so you can follow their guide here.

In the end this was very worthwhile. We are already discussing plans to design our own special wand after seeing some examples like this

More importantly, Ava is only 6 years old. She needed helping coding, but we had some great conversation about how to do things. Our  wand has been coded several times and she took it to school for others to see. If we can create more learning moments where students are proud of their work, then we have an opportunity to develop some pretty awesome kids.

If you make the wand, then please send us pictures of your design. We would love to see what others are making.

Thanks and we cannot wait to show you our next version of the wand and future projects.

And this will also be a summer camp for kids at our nonprofit STEAM space