LED Color Mixing with the SparkFun Inventor’s Kit

One of the best things about the SparkFun Inventor’s Kit (SIK) is that the parts are completely reusable. The projects outlined in the included guidebook don’t require any soldering, allowing the LEDs, resistors, sensors and everything else to be used over and over. This means that the kit contains almost limitless potential for classroom use. Educators can choose to have students work their way through the guidebook in order to learn the basics of building circuits and coding in Arduino, they can create their own project prompts to challenge students to take their learning further, or they can do a combination of both approaches.

To show the additional opportunities presented by the parts included in the SparkFun Inventor’s Kit, we sometimes challenge ourselves to see what else we can create using either just the parts found in the kit or a few additional low cost items.

When the SparkFun Inventor’s Kit v4.0 was released, we shared three additional project ideas that could be completed with few to no extra parts. These projects included a clap-on lamp, a light seeking robot, and an endless runner game.

We’re back at it again with another project idea using only the parts found in the SIK. This time, our summer intern, Humsini Acharya, created an LED color mixer using only parts found in the kit. This fun tutorial introduces students to the many possibilities presented by the RGB LED. When a button is pressed, the LED will turn the color of the button. When two buttons are pressed at the same time, the LED will shine a mix of those two colors (ex: when the red and blue buttons are pressed, the LED will shine purple).

Through this project, students will explore the art concept of color mixing as well as coding concepts such as IF, WHILE, and DO WHILE statements.

Want even more project ideas for the SparkFun Inventor’s Kit? Check out the Arduino Inventor’s Guide for 10 more projects including a miniature traffic light, color-changing night light ,temperature-sensing greenhouse and more. Now through Nov 30, 2018, you can even get a copy of the Arduino Inventor’s Guide free when you purchase 25 or more SparkFun Inventor’s Kits with promo code SIKbook2018.