04 / 06
Education design / Electronics
Keyboard Kit
A hands-on learning package that helps children build, program, and personalize a Raspberry Pi Pico keyboard.
- Role
- Independent design intern
- Partner
- MakersBase Breda
- Audience
- Children aged 8+
- Year
- 2022
The brief
A first step from using technology to shaping it.
MakersBase asked me to develop an educational kit that would introduce children to the Raspberry Pi Pico through something they could build and use themselves. A small programmable keyboard offered a clear starting point: pressing a button creates an immediate response, while changing its function opens up new possibilities.
I approached the kit as both an object and a learning experience. Soldering makes the electronic connections tangible, and programming in MicroPython lets participants decide what each button does. The aim was to make the relationship between making, code, and interaction understandable through the act of building.
By the end of the workshop, participants have a working keyboard they can keep adapting. The project gives them an introduction to electronics while showing that everyday technology is something they can question and change.
Build first.
Then make it yours.
The keyboard is a starting point rather than a fixed answer. By changing the code, button layout, or housing, children can turn the same electronics into a game controller, shortcut pad, or another idea entirely.
The wooden case lowers the technical barrier and gives participants a surface they can decorate and adapt themselves.
Testing with children
The instructions changed when real hands met the kit.
Learning design
Complex technology, broken into visible steps.
Visual, step-based instructions were developed and iterated through user testing. Each step connects a physical action to an understandable result: solder a component, upload a short script, press a button, and see the computer respond.
The package demonstrates how playful, self-directed making can give children a foundation for more advanced electronics and programming.
