Builder Level 1
SPARK
By the last page, you will have built real gadgets that sense the world around you — with your own hands.
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Unit 1Close the Loop
Revive the Gadget
The power goes off at night. Somewhere in the house a torch is found and clicked, and it gives nothing but a faint orange glow. Everyone waits in the dark for someone who knows what to do.
Ready when you are
The Night-Light
A six-year-old is scared of the dark corridor to the bathroom. Every night someone switches on the big light for them. Then it stays on till morning, bright in everyone’s eyes.
Ready when you are
Unit 2Sense the World
The Clap Buzzer
In almost every home, something goes missing every morning: a school bag, a lunch box, a sports kit. The search takes minutes, the door is waiting, and everyone ends up late.
Needs the Level 1 kit. Get itBase Kit: MAKEON Control Board + USB cable, breadboard, battery, LEDs, buzzer, light sensor, heat sensor, magnet switch, transistor, resistors, wires.
The Magic Door Alarm
In many homes a snack tin empties overnight, and when anyone asks, everybody says “Not me.” A shop has the same problem with its back door, and a museum with its glass cases.
Needs the Level 1 kit. Get itBase Kit: MAKEON Control Board + USB cable, breadboard, battery, LEDs, buzzer, light sensor, heat sensor, magnet switch, transistor, resistors, wires.
The Heat Warning
Look at the label on a medicine box and it may say “store below 25 °C”. Chocolate melts, phones slow down, and plants wilt when they get too hot. Nobody can check a thermometer every hour.
Needs the Level 1 kit. Get itBase Kit: MAKEON Control Board + USB cable, breadboard, battery, LEDs, buzzer, light sensor, heat sensor, magnet switch, transistor, resistors, wires.
Unit 3Combine the Senses
Two Senses, One Gadget
A car alarm howls because a truck drove past. A smoke alarm screams because someone made toast. After a few false alarms people stop listening, and then the alarm is useless.
Needs the Level 1 kit. Get itBase Kit: MAKEON Control Board + USB cable, breadboard, battery, LEDs, buzzer, light sensor, heat sensor, magnet switch, transistor, resistors, wires.
The Bedside Buddy
Some people wake in the night: an older person who needs to reach the bathroom safely, or a parent getting up for a baby. They fumble for a switch, knock over a glass, and wake everyone else.
Flagship
Needs the Level 1 kit. Get itBase Kit: MAKEON Control Board + USB cable, breadboard, battery, LEDs, buzzer, light sensor, heat sensor, magnet switch, transistor, resistors, wires.
Unit 4Invent
Invent Your Gadget
Every home and every school has a small problem that happens every day and that everyone has stopped noticing: a door that bangs, a plant that dries out, a light left on in an empty room.
Needs the Level 1 kit. Get itBase Kit: MAKEON Control Board + USB cable, breadboard, battery, LEDs, buzzer, light sensor, heat sensor, magnet switch, transistor, resistors, wires.
The Treasure Alarm
Museums, banks and shops all guard things that someone else wants. The best guards are tested by people whose job is to break in.
F
Needs the Level 1 kit. Get itBase Kit: MAKEON Control Board + USB cable, breadboard, battery, LEDs, buzzer, light sensor, heat sensor, magnet switch, transistor, resistors, wires.
Unit 5Builds of the Week
The Door Tell-Tale
A fridge door is left open a crack all night. By morning the milk is warm and the ice has melted. Nobody meant to leave it open, and nobody noticed.
Build of the Week
Needs the Level 1 kit. Get itBase Kit: MAKEON Control Board + USB cable, breadboard, battery, LEDs, buzzer, light sensor, heat sensor, magnet switch, transistor, resistors, wires.
The Sound Watcher
Someone in the house is wearing headphones, or is hard of hearing, or is two rooms away with a fan running. The doorbell rings, or a baby cries, and they never hear it.
Build of the Week
Needs the Level 1 kit. Get itBase Kit: MAKEON Control Board + USB cable, breadboard, battery, LEDs, buzzer, light sensor, heat sensor, magnet switch, transistor, resistors, wires.
The Too-Hot Alarm
A phone charging under a pillow can get dangerously hot, and nobody can see it happening. Chargers left on beds, laptops on blankets: heat builds up wherever air can’t move.
Build of the Week
Needs the Level 1 kit. Get itBase Kit: MAKEON Control Board + USB cable, breadboard, battery, LEDs, buzzer, light sensor, heat sensor, magnet switch, transistor, resistors, wires.