
New for 2018: Create a wand that plays music when you wave it -- an Invisible Xylophone! Then decorate the wand to express your own personality.
- Create an Invisible Xylophone that beeps a tune as you wave a wand
- Connect sensors that detect the wand’s motion
- Add a light that changes color
- Attach a speaker that beeps notes
- Arrange graphical computer code letting the wand control the speaker
- Decorate the wand to express your own personality
You'll attach to the end of a wand an accelerometer and a gyroscope that send signals to a microcontroller, which in turn is wired to a speaker. Then you'll write code in the Scratch programming language so that the speaker beeps when the wand is swiped down, generating a pitch controlled by the wand's angle.
This program is generally appropriate for grades 6-9, though the hosting libraries and schools may have additional guidelines and registration requirements.