Little Bits
Little Bits are small, colorful, electronic pieces that connect magnetically to make circuits. Each type of bit serves a different purpose: providing power, controlling how much power is used, and displaying the output of power (light, sound, motion, etc.).
Car made with Little Bits by a middle school student
Getting Started
The color of a bit indicated its function:
Blue indicates a power input bit
Pink indicates a switch bit
Green indicates an output bit
Use the Bit-o-Pedia on the Little Bits website to see the function of each individual bit.
You can also use the fuse tool on the Little Bits website to build a circuit virtually, or to code by connecting a codeBit to your computer.
Use the information about the coding bit and the fuse coding tool to try coding using Little Bits.
See below for more classroom resources!
Resources
Little Bits has an Educator's Guide that touches on how to use Little Bits, why they are valuable for students, how they meet standards, ways to implement lessons using Little Bits, and more.
Little Bits provides an Educator Tips page where educators post their experiences with and guidance on Little Bits in the classroom.
This TEDEd blog post is a quick read on using Little Bits to teach design thinking in the classroom. The following image is from the blog, and is a useful representation of the process students can use to invent!
Light display made with a codeBit