Source: https://mokxi.com/teachers/plans/holiday-lights Updated: 2026-11-11 Lesson plan # Build lights for the holidays lesson plan Four builds on the Uno for New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day, Diwali and Hanukkah, each one ready to put in a window. 2 chapters, 4 lessons, about 3 hours, on the Arduino Uno R3. Every lesson runs in the browser, with nothing to install. Start a class from this course The unit ## Objectives and materials ### By the end, students can - Glide a ball down with the clock, and draw a heart in eight bytes. - Flicker a row of diyas, then light a menorah in the right order. ### Materials for the whole unit - Addressable RGB LEDs - Arduino Uno R3 - Half breadboard - Hobby servo - LED matrix, 8x8 - Piezo speaker - Potentiometer - Pushbutton - Resistor Every part is already on the simulator’s bench, so there is nothing to buy or hand out. The counts are the most any one lesson uses, if you build it on real breadboards too. Chapter 1. About 1 h 30 min ## A countdown and a heart Glide a ball down with the clock, and draw a heart in eight bytes. Lesson | Time | What students do New Year's Eve: a ball drop Press the button and a servo lowers a ball of LEDs over the last ten seconds, beeping each second. How to make a move follow the clock instead of the beeps. | 45 min - Run it: the ball at the top - Ten, nine, eight - Happy New Year - Make it yours Valentine's Day: a beating heart A heart on an 8x8 LED matrix beats lub-dub at a pace a knob sets. How a picture becomes eight bytes, and why a heartbeat is two beats and a rest. | 45 min - Run it: the heart beats - A picture is eight bytes - Lub-dub - Make it a card ### Materials - Addressable RGB LEDs - Arduino Uno R3 - Half breadboard - Hobby servo - LED matrix, 8x8 - Piezo speaker - Potentiometer - Pushbutton - Resistor ### Check for understanding Each student finishes "Valentine's Day: a beating heart" on their own, without opening the hints. The simulator checks 4 of its 4 steps as they go. Then ask each one to explain, in a sentence or two, the last thing it asked of them: "Make it a card". Chapter 2. About 1 h 30 min ## Festivals of light Flicker a row of diyas, then light a menorah in the right order. Lesson | Time | What students do Diwali: a row of diyas Eight LEDs inside clay diyas light one by one, then flicker like small oil lamps. How to give every flame a life of its own without delay(). | 45 min - Run it: the diyas light - Every flame its own - Light them again - A row for your home Hanukkah: a menorah Nine flickering lights, eight candles and the shamash: each press is the next night. How to put a tradition’s order into code, step by step. | 45 min - Run it: the first night - Newest first - All eight nights - A menorah for the window ### Materials - Addressable RGB LEDs - Arduino Uno R3 - Half breadboard - Pushbutton - Resistor ### Check for understanding Each student finishes "Hanukkah: a menorah" on their own, without opening the hints. The simulator checks 4 of its 4 steps as they go. Then ask each one to explain, in a sentence or two, the last thing it asked of them: "A menorah for the window". Your class ## Teach this unit as a class Start a class from this course and its 4 lessons are assigned in one go, in order. Students join with a six-character code or printed login cards, and each one’s work comes back to you. The class tools are free for 30 days for one class of up to 20 students, with no card. The lessons themselves are free either way. Start a class from this course See the demo class More units ## Other lesson plans Electronics basics 20 lessons, about 10 h. Embedded on the Arduino Uno 16 lessons, about 12 h. Embedded on the ESP32-C3 13 lessons, about 11 h. Embedded on the Raspberry Pi Pico 7 lessons, about 6 h. Build your own fight stick 5 lessons, about 4 h. Embedded on the STM32F411 6 lessons, about 6 h. C++ on a board 13 lessons, about 10 h. Digital logic and memory 4 lessons, about 4 h. Interactive devices on the Uno 9 lessons, about 8 h. From gates to a computer 23 lessons, about 16 h. Build a claw machine 8 lessons, about 6 h. Every unit All the courses as ready-made units, on the teachers page.