who says it’s too early to get in the holiday spirit? We say it’s not. After all, people need time to get in the spirit before it comes and goes. and what better way to count down the days until Christmas than an electronic development calendar?
[Tom Goff]’s youngsters had some pretty cool concepts for building a decoration, like a musical, lighted sleigh complete with robotic Santa Claus. While that’s a bit much to pull off for this year, they did salvage the music and lights part for their Hackvent calendar.
There are 24 small LEDs for December 1st through the 24th, and a big white star for December 25th. Each day, the youngsters just push the button and the day’s LED lights up. On the big day, all the small lights cascade off and the white one lights up, then it plays Jingle Bells through a sound playback module.
Each LED is linked directly to an input on an Arduino Mega. While there are several ways of illumination up 25 LEDs, this one is pretty kid-friendly. We think the coolest part of this build is that [Tom] and the youngsters did it old school, with nails hammered into the laser-cut plywood and used as connection terminals. Be sure to check it out in action after the break.
The a lot more time you have, the a lot more you can put into your development calendar build. like chocolates, for instance.