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Moving Rainbow Base Kit

Moving Rainbow Base Kit

The club's most popular kit: a Raspberry Pi Pico driving a 30-pixel NeoPixel LED strip, with two push buttons to change patterns, a small breadboard, jumper wires, and a USB cable. Students change the colors and animations purely in code (Chapter 19).

Source book: Moving Rainbow
Kit page: https://dmccreary.github.io/moving-rainbow/kits/moving-rainbow-base/
Printable one-pager: moving-rainbow-base-one-pager.html

Features

  • A pixel that blinks, then fades, then moves along the strip
  • A full rainbow that slides down the strip and wraps around
  • A comet with a glowing tail, a candle that flickers, and a Larson scanner like the Cylon eye
  • A heartbeat, a field of fading stars, and a bouncing ball that settles to rest
  • A breathing wave of light and a sunrise that blends colors from night to day
  • A clock that shows the time as colored pixels

Benefits

  • Free, open lessons: the Moving Rainbow textbook has the kit page, wiring, and MicroPython code.
  • Classroom friendly: built on a solderless breadboard or no-solder connectors.
  • Budget: about $15 (Pico $4, 30-pixel strip $6, breadboard $2, jumper wires $1, USB cable $2).

Parts

  • Raspberry Pi Pico ($4) — Microcontroller
  • Momentary Push Buttons — Input button / switch
  • WS2812B NeoPixels — LEDs
  • 830-Point Breadboard ($1.10) — Breadboard
  • Micro-USB Data Cable ($2.50) — Power and programming cable