A clown is a fun character to see at the Circus. In this blog posting, I make a circus clown with a movable bow tie, the clown's red nose blinks on and off. A message saying "Welcome to the Circus" is streamed across the LED display. The clown's bow tie oscillates back and forth when button A is pressed on the Microbit. When button B is pressed, the Microbit plays a song called "Entry of the Gladiators, a Thunder and Blazes March" by Julius Fucik, 1872 - 1916. When button A and B are pressed simultaneously, the clown's bow tie stops and goes back to its equilibrium position.
I made a paper box to contain the components necessary to operate this project. I made my box using a Silhouette Cameo, an electronic paper cutting machine. I have included three different files where you can make this box.
You can print and cut the box and clown with scissors or use the files for an electronic paper cutter. I used 65 lb. white cardstock and Glue Dots for the design.
Half of the paper box has been made in the photo above.
There is a structural beam that is added to the corners in the front of the box. This is necessary to add more support to this area. The support is a beam with diagonal in the center. To make this beam, glue is placed on three tabs as shown above and folded inward to adhere the glue. The sides of box are glued so that there is a slight gap at the bottom of the box to accommodate the Brown Dog Bit Board.
Add a Glue Dot to the back of the battery pack.
Adhere the battery pack to the back of the box on the left side. Two Lego pieces are needed for the 270 degree Servo - I used 2 - 1 x 4 Lego pieces. I recommend using new batteries with your Microbit as I experienced problems with my servo while using old batteries.
The Microbit has been inserted onto the Brown Dog Bit Board.
Attach the Lego pieces to the Servo and apply a Glue Dot to the center of the 1 x 4 Lego piece as shown above (the Glue Dots are clear but you can see them glisten a bit in the photo). Attach the servo to Pin 13. Set this aside.
Make the LED Light Assembly
Using a red LED light, (please note, the longer wire is positive), I made a holder for this LED light by using the following instructions in this YouTube video. https://youtu.be/jmsu__UYTl8?si=dS8hfbSRW0h7QUfb
Once the LED holder was made, I used two alligator clips; a yellow alligator clip was used for connecting the positive side of the light to pin 0 at the bottom of the Microbit .
A blue alligator clip was used for the connecting the ground side of the light to pin GND at the bottom of the Microbit.
Insert the Bit Board into the Paper Box
Insert the Brown Dog Bit Board into the paper box. Attach the Microbit by sliding the paper side tabs over the Microbit's buttons A and B.
Attach the servo to the paper box by adhering the Glue Dots that were previously attached to the 1 x 4 Lego pieces.
Attach the LED light in the other hole.
Program The Microbit
Here is the program that I used to operate my Microbit,
The program does a few things. It streams the message "Welcome to the Circus" across the LED display. When the left button is pressed, the bow tie moves back and forth. When the right button is pressed, the circus song is played. When both the left and right buttons are pressed, the bow tie stops its movement and goes to its center point.
Download the program to the Microbit.
Attach the battery wire to the Brown Dog Bit Board.
(It is the red connector with the red and black wires that is slid into the two red squares on the bit board.)
Embellish the clown face and align the two holes on the face to the two holes on the box.
Place a Glue Dot on the tip of the servo shaft.
Attach the bow tie to this Glue Dot.
There is a door at the back of the paper box for easy accessibility to the battery. The Servo and the LED light does not need to be disconnected to power on/off this project.
Candy canes are sweet treats that are loved by many children and adults alike. In this blog posting, https://turtlestitch.blogspot.com/2024/12/embroidering-candy-cane-snowman-ornament.html I coded a snowman and a gingerbread man in TurtleStitch to embroider on felt. I used its design to create this paper version. The paper version of the snowman and gingerbread man can hold two candy canes. It looks adorable because the candy canes look like the snowman/gingerbread man's arms and legs.
I used 65 lb. cardstock and foil cardstock from Michaels and a four inch piece of ribbon as a hanger.
Here is the PDF if you would like to print and cut with scissors.
Bend all of the tabs of the body. Glue the two parts of the body together. Fold the ribbon in half and insert the ribbon in the center of the head. (I pulled the head apart at the top tab and added additional glue and then inserted the ribbon.).
Glue on the embellishments.
As an alternative to the glued on embellishments, it might be fun for a child to color on their own design.
Wait for the glue tabs to dry before inserting the candy canes. I inserted the candy cane through the armhole. Gently expand the armhole and thread the candy cane through the hole.
The program does a few things. It streams the message "Happy Holidays" across the LED display. When the left button is pressed, the song "Deck the Halls" plays and the carousel rotates clockwise. When the right button is pressed, the carousel stops rotating.
Connecting the Microbit to the Brown Dog Bit Board
The Microbit is connected to the Brown Dog Crazy Circuits Bit Board as shown above.
I boxed in the battery power supply with Legos and added a glue dot to the bottom of the battery compartment so that the battery would not move around.
The battery is connected with the red and black wires to the bit board at the red connector, shown above in the middle of the photo. The red wire is positive and the black wire is negative. I recommend using new batteries as I experienced problems with my servo while using old batteries.
The continuous rotation 360 degree servo is connected via the orange, red and brown wires to the bit board at the location of pin 0. The colors of the servo wires correspond to the colors of the pins. Check to make sure the servo works before continuing to attach the carousel.
Connecting the Carousel to the Continuous Rotation 360 Degree Servo
I attached the carousel with a Lego axle and two gears to add stability at the point where the axle and the servo meet. There is a little wobble as the carousel rotates. The wobble is more apparent at higher speeds. At a 50% running rate, the wobble is very slight.
Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer and Frosty The Snowman characters are placed over a red LED light. The supporting box for the Microbit was cut with the Silhouette paper cutter.
When the Micobit is activated by pressing the left button, a song is played. When the right button is pressed, a different song is played. Can you guess which songs are going to be played?
Here is a video of the Microbit in action.
A Microbit is an easy and inexpensive way of learning to program. I purchased my Mictobit at Microcenter for $22. I think the Microbit is a bargain because of all of its programming capabilities that are packed into this little device. The Microbit has an LED display, it can emit sound, it has light and temperature sensors, radio and Bluetooth sensors to transmit between two Microbits and two programmable buttons to name a few features.
The Microbit website, https://microbit.org has tutorials to help you learn programming using Microsoft MakeCode for beginners. Python and Scratch programming languages are also available to program the Microbit for more advanced learners.
Crease the box as shown above. Apply glue to the two tabs at the left side of the photo.
Adhere the tabs and apply glue to the two small tabs as shown above.
Insert and adhere the small tabs into the bottom of the box. Apply glue to the side of the Microbit holder tabs.
Adhere the Microbit holder tabs to the inside of the box.
Insert the Microbit by wrapping the box around the Microbit's buttons.
Embellish with a paper candy cane.
Embellish the Snowman and Reindeer as shown above.
LED Light Instructions
Using a red LED light, (please note, the longer wire is positive), I made a holder for this LED light by using the following instructions in this YouTube video. https://youtu.be/jmsu__UYTl8?si=dS8hfbSRW0h7QUfb
Assembly Instructions
Once the red LED holder was made, I used two alligator clips; a red alligator clip was used for connecting the positive side of the light to pin 0 at the bottom of the Microbit .
A black alligator clip was used for the connecting the ground side of the light to pin GND at the bottom of the Microbit. In the photo above, alligator clips are attached at the back side of the Microbit.
Programming Instructions
Here is the program that I used to operate my Microbit, https://makecode.microbit.org/S41653-41913-44926-20051 The program does a few things. It streams the message "Merry Christmas" across the LED display. The red LED blinks on and off. When the left button is pressed, the song "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" plays. When the right button is pressed, the song "Frosty the Snowman" plays.
Side View
When playing the left button on the Microbit, use the reindeer embellishment for the "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" song. When playing the right button, use the snowman embellishment for the "Frosty the Snowman" song.
A Microbit Battery Holder With Accessibility For Edge Connectors
On the Microbit website, they feature a cardboard battery holder for the Microbit. https://microbit.org/get-started/user-guide/battery-pack-holder/ While it is a great design to hold the battery pack. I had issues with the bottom edge connectors. I added two alligator clips to the ground and 3v ports. When I stood the battery holder upright up, standing on the bottom edge of the battery holder, the Microbit tilted to the left side.
My goal was to create a Microbit battery holder that would stand up at a right angle to the table for easy front viewing without the issue of accessing the bottom edge connectors. In my design, I used the original Microbit battery holder design and I modified it. I extended the sides of the battery holder and added a triangular corner to each side. I made triangles at the bottom corners because triangles are the sturdiest structure. It is a shape that can not be distorted by stress because the load is distributed evenly across all three sides of the triangle. The result is a corner that will not collapse under the weight of the Microbit. If you exert pressure at the top of this holder, the side will bend but not the triangular corners.
Here is the PDF. I used 65 lb. white cardstock for the design.
A Rubber Band Pop-Up Gingerbread House - Side View #1
Side View #2
Here is a video of the pop-up in action.
This rubber band pop-up card is an engineering marvel. It combines a rubber band mechanism with a house which pops-up when removed from an A4 envelope. An A4 envelope is 4 1/4 in. x 6 1/4 in. The recipient of this card will be astonished when the flat card opens into this amazing three dimensional gingerbread house for Christmas.
The rubber band expands when the base is pressed down at the seam that is opposite to the internal diagonal. When the side pressure is released, the expansion tension on the rubber band is released and the rubber band returns to its natural state This phenomenon allows the form to deploy and become three dimensional.
For my papercrafting friends, no coding is necessary. All the files for the pop-up gingerbread house are included.
The entire gingerbread design with the embellishments were coded in TurtleStitch and then opened in the Silhouette program for cutting.
Here is the PDF. I used 65 lb. white and green cardstock, red foil cardstock and red glitter cardstock. I used the back of the red foil cardstock for the gingerbread man as it was brown.
A one inch rubber band is required for the pop-up base. (The rubber band is similar to the rubber band used on a Rainbow Loom.) I also used one glue dot.
There are two sides to the rubber band base. Each side is folded over to create a two-ply base. Crease the paper as shown above.
Glue the folded sides together.
Glue the tabs together. Make sure that the slits are going in the same direction.
Slide the one inch rubber band into the slit and align the rubber band with the round hole in the base of the slit.
Fold the base so that a square is made with a diagonal in the middle. Slide the rubber band into the slit and align the rubber band as before. There is a gap in the diagonal.
Apply a Glue Dot into this gap.
Rubber Band Base
The base can be flattened when the corners without the diagonal are pressed inward.
Wrap and glue the velum to the pop-up base as shown above. Do not use a lot of glue. I glued just the base of the vellum.
Apply glue to the top and bottom of the vellum as shown above.
Fold the gingerbread house wrap around the vellum.
Apply glue on the roof beam and fold in half.
Splay the side tabs outward as shown above.
Glue the splayed tabs to the peak of the house on both sides. Allow the roof beam to dry before proceeding. Apply a good amount of glue to the top of the roof beam as shown above.
Glue the one roof piece to the other roof piece.
Center the smaller roof piece to the center and apply a good amount of glue to the center seam.
Attach the roof to the gingerbread house. Make sure that the roof is centered by looking at the overlap of the roof on both sides.
Embellish the Gingerbread House with a Gingerbread man, swirls candy, candy canes and a wreath with a bow.
Glue on the embellishments to the house as desired.
The tree was created by gluing two trees together at the dotted center line with a thin line of glue. Once the glue is dry, the top tree is splayed outward.
The candy cane was made by glueing two types of cardstock together. The one layer with the swirls was white cardstock and the other layer was red foil cardstock.
Here is the code that I used to create these candy canes in TurtleStitch.
