Micro:bitMakeCodeExplore Students only

Night light and sunrise alarm

Your Micro:bit can feel light with its own screen. Make bars that follow the light, a night light that switches on in the dark, and an alarm that rings once when the sun comes up. Nothing to wire.

Two Micro:bits: at night all lights on under a moon, in the morning a sun picture and a ringing alarm

See it in action

On screen: night falls, the Micro:bit shows a moon; the sun comes up, the alarm rings once and the sun picture shows — Night, then sunrise story 3, in the light lab

Hand on, hand off a real one, our first alarm in 2023

Story by story

4 stories. Each one is a step that works on its own, and the next one builds on it. Then the challenges: real problems to solve.

1
See the lightlight level
2
Light on in the darkif and else
3
Wake up with the suna variable that remembers
4
Set it for your roommeasure first

What you learn

1 Logical thinking4 Programming1 Electronics1 Systems thinking1 AI competence

Explore with the Micro:bit alone: its light sensor, if and else, and a variable that remembers

Logical thinking

An alarm that never stops: find why, then fix it with one variable from story 3

Programming

forever asks for the light again and again, so the bars follow your hand
if light level < 30: the lamp goes on; else it goes off from story 2
rang remembers that the alarm has rung, so it rings only once from story 3
Button A saves the light you want to wake up to, B shows it from story 4

Electronics

The Micro:bit feels light with its own screen: light level is 0 in the dark and 255 in bright light

Systems thinking

Cover it, uncover it, shine a torch: test that it does what you planned

AI competence

You choose when you want to wake up: you measure your own room from story 4

Parts you need

For all the stories together. The first story needs the fewest parts; a small note says from which story a part comes in.

Micro:bit V2 and a USB cable

Battery pack with ON/OFF switch (for your bedroom)

In the full project guide

Learn the basicsthe parts and ideas behind the project, one card each
Try ita simulator: try the idea on the screen before you build it
Program itthe program for each story, in blocks or code, explained step by step
Build a little housewhat to build, step by step, with a cardboard kit to print
Challengesideas to go further on your own
How others did ithow other students solved it, and bugs to find
Check what you learnedquestions and tasks to check what you learned
Postersone page per story to print for the classroom