CoderDojo Twin Cities Arduino Parts Purchasing Guide
The "Take Me Home" Advantage
When we first started teaching Arduino in our courses we stuck with a tried-and-true Arduino kit from a trusted vendor. We purchased ten SparkFun Inventors Kids (SIK) for around $110 each. These kits served us well for about a year and then we found our needs growing. We wanted students to be able to do complete projects and then be able to take their kits home and show their students and friends. Most of our students could not afford to spend over $100 on an electronics kit. Their parents were not sure they would use the kits more than once or twice.
Our solution was to source low-cost Arduino kits that students could afford to purchase and keep. Our target prices was $25 US. We are happy to report that we now have fun kits as low as $15 that students have used to learn many computer science concepts.
Getting Low-Cost Hardware In Time For Classes
If you are a good planner and willing to do some work you can get very low-cost parts from China at a fraction of the prices you see in kits. Just remember that the parts should be ordered 2-3 weeks before your courses start.
For the Hardware Courses here are the typical components you will use:
| Part Name | Description | Price | Link | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arduino Nano | Arduino Nano ATmega328 CH340G Mini USB. The main processor in a low-cost and breadboard-friendly package. Some version require you to solder in your own header pins and some are "pre-welded" meaning the headers are soldered in. | $2.50 each | ebay - solder your own | Note this version will require you to solder on the headers. |
| Mini USB Cable | Short Mini USB cable for connecting the Arduino to the PC's USB port | $1.00 | ebay | check you computer to see what type of cable you need |
| 400 Tie Solderless Breadboard | This 1/2 size breadboard has 400 ties and is big enough for most beginning projects. It is also small enough for students to carry in a backpack | $1.50 each | ebay | The Nano fits directly into this breadboard |
| LEDs | 100 LEDs of various colors (Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, White). At $1 for 100 LEDs you can stop worrying about burning a few out | $1 for 100 | ebay | |
| 330 Ohm Resistors | This package of 100 should be enough for most classrooms | $1.25 for 100 | ebay | 330 ohms are perfect for connecting an LED to a 5-volt source |
| Breadboard Jumper Wires | 65 Male-to-Male jumpers of various lengths | $2.50 for 65 | ebay | Reuse for many projects |
| Ping Sensor | HC-SR04 Ultrasonic distance sensor. There are many sensors priced much higher but this will work fine for our projects | $1.50 each | ebay |
Sample Starter Kits
A Cautionary Tail
Before we suggest kits we want to caution parents that spend a lot of money to purchase a fancy electronic kit that gets used once and then gets stuffed in the back of a closet. We have had many parents come to us and tell us stories of how frustrating it is to not be able to get circuits to work. Just one wire misconnected or one line of code wrong and students can quickly become frustrated.
The solution is to always start slowly and use a mentor to guide your students over the frustrating parts of building circuits. This is especially true for the first six weeks of learning Arduino. After three or four mentoring session students will start to learn debugging techniques so they can solve their own problems.
Basic Starter Kit
We understand that not every school wants to purchase individual components that may 2-3 weeks to arrive from China. If you need a kit quickly and are willing to compromise on component choice and cost here are some options that usually ship from Amazon in under a week.
ELEGOO Basic Starter Kit
If you are not sure your students are interested in programming we suggest you start simple. Buy a low-cost kit and have your student work with a mentor for 2-3 months. After that time you will get a feel for if buying additional kits is a good educational investments.
This kit from ELEGOO is inexpensive but lacks some of the basic sensores such as a ping sensor. ELEGOO UNO Project Basic Starter Kit with Tutorial and UNO R3 Compatible with Arduino IDE $17.99