Source: https://mokxi.com/teachers/plans/kit-project-book Updated: 2026-11-11 Lesson plan # Starter kit companion: the project book lesson plan Follows the fifteen projects in the official Arduino Starter Kit book, in its order, each one running in your browser. 4 chapters, 15 lessons, about 10 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 - Wire a loop, read a button and a sensor, and mix colors. - Point a servo, play light as a note, and build a keyboard on one pin. - Switch a motor with a MOSFET, then run one both ways with an H-bridge. - An answer ball, a knock lock, a touch lamp, and talking to other things. ### Materials for the whole unit - Arduino Uno R3 - Battery: AA, coin cell, LiPo - Character LCD, 16x2 - DC motor - Diode - Full-size breadboard - Half breadboard - Hobby servo - LED x 6 - MOSFET - Motor driver, L293D - Optocoupler, 4N35 - Phototransistor x 3 - Piezo speaker - Potentiometer - Pushbutton x 4 - Resistor x 7 - RGB LED - Temperature sensor - Tilt switch - Touch foil - Vibration sensor, SW-420 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 2 h 50 min ## First lights Wire a loop, read a button and a sensor, and mix colors. Lesson | Time | What students do Build your first circuit Start with the parts in place. Draw every wire yourself, close the loop, press Run and light the LED. | 50 min - Your first wire - Wire the button to the resistor - Wire the resistor to the LED - Close the loop - Run your circuit Kit: a starship control panel A green lamp waits, and two red lamps flash while you hold the button. Your first if and else, and a pull-down resistor. | 40 min - Find the parts from your kit - Run it - Hold the launch button - Build it on your bench Kit: a warm-hands meter A TMP36 temperature sensor, three LEDs and some floating-point math: squeeze the sensor and watch the lights climb. | 40 min - Find the parts from your kit - Run it - Warm it up - Build it on your bench Kit: a color-mixing lamp Three light sensors behind colored gels set the red, green and blue of one LED. | 40 min - Find the parts from your kit - Run it - Cover green and blue - Build it on your bench ### Materials - Arduino Uno R3 - Full-size breadboard - LED x 3 - Phototransistor x 3 - Pushbutton - Resistor x 6 - RGB LED - Temperature sensor ### Check for understanding Each student finishes "Kit: a color-mixing lamp" 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: "Build it on your bench". Chapter 2. About 2 h 40 min ## Motion and sound Point a servo, play light as a note, and build a keyboard on one pin. Lesson | Time | What students do Kit: a mood dial Turn a potentiometer and a servo points to match. map() turns one range of numbers into another. | 40 min - Find the parts from your kit - Turn the knob all the way down - And all the way up - Build it on your bench Kit: a light theremin Light on a phototransistor becomes a pitch on a piezo. Wave your hand over it to play. | 40 min - Find the parts from your kit - Run it - Cover the sensor - Build it on your bench Kit: a four-key keyboard Four buttons share one analog pin through a ladder of resistors, and a piezo plays a note for each. | 40 min - Find the parts from your kit - Hold the first key - Hold the third key - Build it on your bench Kit: a tilt hourglass Six LEDs light on a millis() timer while the sketch keeps watching a tilt switch to start again. | 40 min - Find the parts from your kit - Run it - Turn it over - Build it on your bench ### Materials - Arduino Uno R3 - Full-size breadboard - Half breadboard - Hobby servo - LED x 6 - Phototransistor - Piezo speaker - Potentiometer - Pushbutton x 4 - Resistor x 7 - Tilt switch ### Check for understanding Each student finishes "Kit: a tilt hourglass" 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: "Build it on your bench". Chapter 3. About 1 h 20 min ## Motors Switch a motor with a MOSFET, then run one both ways with an H-bridge. Lesson | Time | What students do Kit: a motor pinwheel A MOSFET lets a pin switch a motor on a 9 V battery, and a diode catches the motor’s kick. | 40 min - Find the parts from your kit - Hold the button - Let go - Build it on your bench Kit: a spinning zoetrope The L293D H-bridge runs the motor either way, a button starts and stops it, and a knob sets the speed. | 40 min - Find the parts from your kit - Start it - Reverse it - Build it on your bench ### Materials - Arduino Uno R3 - Battery: AA, coin cell, LiPo - DC motor - Diode - Full-size breadboard - MOSFET - Motor driver, L293D - Potentiometer - Pushbutton x 2 - Resistor x 2 ### Check for understanding Each student finishes "Kit: a spinning zoetrope" 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: "Build it on your bench". Chapter 4. About 3 h 20 min ## Bigger builds An answer ball, a knock lock, a touch lamp, and talking to other things. Lesson | Time | What students do Kit: an answer ball Ask a question, tip the tilt switch, and the LCD shows an answer picked with random(). | 40 min - Find the parts from your kit - Run it - Ask, and tip it - Build it on your bench Kit: a secret knock lock Listen for a rhythm of knocks and slide a servo bolt open only for the right one. | 40 min - Find the parts from your kit - Run it - Knock the secret - Build it on your bench Kit: a touch lamp A piece of foil and a 1 megohm resistor make a touch sensor, read with the CapacitiveSensor library. | 40 min - Find the parts from your kit - Run it - Touch the foil - Build it on your bench Kit: sending a knob to your computer Read a potentiometer and send the number over serial, the board’s half of talking to a program on your computer. | 40 min - Find the parts from your kit - Run it - Turn it all the way - Build it on your bench Kit: pressing a button with an optocoupler An LED and a light sensor in one chip let the board press another gadget’s button without sharing a wire. | 40 min - Find the parts from your kit - Run it - Watch it let go - Build it on your bench ### Materials - Arduino Uno R3 - Battery: AA, coin cell, LiPo - Character LCD, 16x2 - Full-size breadboard - Half breadboard - Hobby servo - LED x 2 - Optocoupler, 4N35 - Potentiometer - Resistor x 2 - Tilt switch - Touch foil - Vibration sensor, SW-420 ### Check for understanding Each student finishes "Kit: pressing a button with an optocoupler" 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: "Build it on your bench". Your class ## Teach this unit as a class Start a class from this course and its 15 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.