This DIY busy box was a huge hit! It's made with a bunch of random electronics, a wedding box, and an Arduino. Source Code: github.com/HackerPoet/BusyBox Music: Blue Dot Sessions - "Highride" Cambo - "Coffee"
It was pretty funny when he tried to start hitting the small buttons, missed like 6 times then went to something else. Having some smaller buttons and switches is probably a good idea, trains dexterity and possibly patience since he has to slow down to be able to hit them.
As my mom told me: I had something similar to this when I was around the same age. I think it was my grandpa that made it for me: it was an old network(?) switchbox thingy with a bunch of additional switches and lights in it. I LOVED that thing. I think I remember being told that when it stopped working, I took it apart and put it back together and it worked again and I would keep playing with it until it happened again, and then I would do it again. My memory of it isn't very clear (given that I haven't seen that thing in years; I was probably around 3-4 when it got lost or I stopped playing with it, not sure which), but I can distinctly remember the front panel switches and that some of the buttons made sound. I would do nearly anything to have that thing back.
uhh, he just wanted a board for his baby to fidget with? this is no different from one of the button pushers you get get from Walmart just without the animal pictures.
I learnt very quickly that the reason people buy toddler toys and dont make them is because anything no matter how much love it has can be a five minute wonder. nothing like taking a week or two to build the perfect toy for your kid only to have them pick it up, turn it over, poke it twice and wander off to play with something else.
Yeah but then CodeParade can modify it or reprogram it and note which modifications hold his child's attention the longest and work out the pattern. He likes setting himself such projects
Excellent contraption! When you're doing stuff that involves a lot of lights, it helps to multiplex. That way, you don't have to run out of GPIOs but you can still have the same effect with the lights.
That's awesome, as he grows up that kid is going to play with it in so many imaginative ways from, train controls, spaceship & a computer just to name a few off the top of my head
this was way cute. I love how you made it look like something he knows he's not supposed to play with, which I'm sure makes it even more enticing :) great job!
had a few thoughts for some kid friendly busy widgets since you mentioned maybe adding more to it as he grows. You could have a square of led's and 4 buttons surrounding. In basic mode it could just make a wave from that direction when you hit a button, in advanced mode it could be a "control the dot" type thing. also if you give them all basic aesthetic symbols like "the triangle buttons" or something, then you could possibly have a sort of 'bop-it' system where he has to manipulate the board to make it match, but that's probably much later on I think you should also try to incorporate some more physical things like servos and sensors, as time goes on. A servo modded to have its potentiometer makes a good and safe slow motor and you could have it do different things based on whether music is playing, how far his hand is from a sensor, the mode, or even might be able to make a lego attachment to it and try to nudge him into that kind of robotics. This is a really cool project and I'm sure he's in more than capable hands oh also one of those "useless machines" that turn themselves off when you activate the switch would probably make a good module
When he turns older you could set it up as a simple programing language with an input and each button and switch changing the output, with a bit of thinking you could come up with something a kid would really enjoy and if you are lucky it will stimulate the curiosity part of his brain and get him thinking about logic in an intuitive way.
Thanks for the idea! I have a feeling my nephew will love his! He's a little young for it now (4 months) so I will have plenty of time to play around with it myself, getting Doom to run on a volt meter.
This puts me in mind of when I was a kid and one friend, or another, would have a toy I thought was really fun but they thought it was boring. I imagine, by the time your kid is 5, this toy'll be that toy for some kid in the neighborhood.
Well made busy board and well made video. Thanks for sharing the code. I am glad someone agrees that putting plugs, sockets and seat belts into a busy board is not a wise idea.
My dad made me one back in the early 70’s - since LEDs where new / spendy then, he used neon power indicators - and it had an internal 90volt batt array - when it died, a lot of the fun did too.
Wow, when I was young, I also wanted to poke around switches and all. Sadly my parents were never good enough like you did for your child!! Wow! Amazing work
1:03 - As someone who does electronics, I'm sure a lot of people will agree, there's nothing like coming accross a bag of vintage looking LED's. I remember picking up a bag before. Strangely enough, it had what looked like standard 5mm red led's. But when powered up, the chip was green... Why would someone possibly design a green led encapsulated in a red diffused 5mm housing?! Wish I had kept hold of them. Never found any since. Might have been rare for all I know.
In my bag, I found an LED with the little notch on the positive side instead of ground. I guess they do have misprints! That must be why they end up in the discount grab bags in the first place.
My dad built something like this (but all analog) for me when I was a kid. Except he put a flashbulb in it and showed me the button and said, "If you push that button there will be an earthquake an we'll all die." He was so disappointed three weeks later that I hadn't pushed the button that he got one of his friends to push it instead even though I didn't want them to. That was how I learned what kind of person my dad was.
