Many of you have asked what a subscription to Thimble entails – particularly what comes after the Creator Set (our first kit). So we’ve crafted this post for those of you interested in learning more about the quest for learning engineering and programming through our hands-on kits.
After you’ve completed your first kit, the Creator Set, your journey with Thimble continues with your very first themed set. A set contains four kits that give you a thorough understanding of a particular STEM subject (ie., Meteorology, robotics, Music, etc). If this sounds daunting, don’t worry! Our kits are carefully designed for beginners and our tutorials help you build each project from start to finish. Each monthly kit teaches you specific skills that you build on over time. At the end of each set, you’ll have one big masterpiece.
The first themed set after the Creator Set is the Weather Station. The Weather Station gives Thimblers a basic understanding of meteorology. After the fourth kit, you’ll have your own complete weather station! Here is a little more information about each kit.
Weather Station Kit 1: Learning the Basics of the Weather
Think of Weather Station kit 1 as the foundation for this project! In this kit, you’ll learn to measure the three major physical properties weather is composed of; temperature, humidity, and air pressure. Along with those major properties, we also cover ultraviolet (UV) and Infrared light.
Using the two sensors included in this kit, you’ll start to create your weather station and learn:
- How to receive and interpret data from the two sensors.
- How these sensors obtain the data.
- How you can use the data to then analyze the fundamentals of weather.
- How to read and use an LCD display to display your data.
We encourage our community to challenge themselves and explore further. Here are a few ways to do that with kit 1:
- Explore all units of temperature measurement by changing the temp to Kelvin after converting it from Celsius to Fahrenheit.
- Humidity: Breath on the sensor to watch the humidity rise or put the barometer sensor inside your fridge and check out the humidity.
- Pressure: Analyze the pressures that surround you by seeing how the pressure varies by going up or down a floor.
For more information, visit our learning platform to view the tutorial, here.
Weather Station Kit 2: Connecting Your Weather Station To Wi-Fi
Congrats! You’ve started to build your own personal weather station. Weather Station kit 2 is all about taking your weather station on the go and learning how to use signals to send data. We’ve also included an additional game in this kit, putting a twist on the classic game, Simon Says.
Using the new components in Weather Station kit 2, users will get the chance to learn:
- The basics of serial communication.
- How to upload your weather data to the Internet and monitor your data remotely.
- What is needed to connect your WiFi module to a WiFi network.
- How to set up your own ‘wonderground’ to see your own personal weather data.
- Ways to set up the RGB LED and how to change the colors along with the rate at which they change.
Here are some fun challenges and how to get the most out of Weather Station kit 2:
- When setting up the RGB LED, try changing the saturation and brightness variables to scroll through more colors.
- After setting up Super Simon, try adding the speaker so that each color has a unique tone.
For more information, visit our learning platform to view the tutorial, here.
Weather Station kit 3: The Perfect Activity To Do On A Rainy Day
Love it or hate it, depending on where you live, rain is a huge component of the weather! This kit is all about exploring rain and how to measure it.
Here are the key takeaways from Weather Station kit 3:
- Learn how to build a rain bucket to catch the rain.
- Explore how to measure the rainfall using sensors. Even though there are many ways to measure the rain, we will be using a magnet and magnetic switch to count how many times the magnet tips.
- Add that data to Weather Station 2 for your own personal weather station.
- Bonus: make your own magnetic intruder alarm with the parts included in the kit and gain a deeper understanding of how magnets work.
Here is a fun challenge to expand your knowledge when building Weather Station kit 3:
- When using the intruder alarm, switch the LED Module with the RGB LED Module. Try using colors to express the states of the switch. Use your knowledge of the Intruder Alarm from the Creator Set. Any modifications from that project can be made to this one!
For more information, visit our learning platform to view the tutorial, here.
Weather Station Kit 4: Putting Your Weather Station To The Test
Even though Weather Station kit 4 hasn’t arrived at your doorstep (it will soon!), we still wanted to give you a sneak peek of what to expect. You’ll be able to take your complete weather station and put it to the test. In this kit, we give you all the parts to build an enclosure to safely put what you’ve made outside. Also included is another wifi module and Arduino. We’ll walk you through how to connect two Arduino’s together so you’ll be able to get your data from outside!
If you are interested in Weather Station kits 1-4, you can purchase a subscription here. We offer two different subscription options, monthly and annual. If you have any questions, please reach out to us at team@thimble.io.
Not ready to commit? We also offer the Creator Set, which is part of our introductory course TH 101 (Introduction to Engineering and Computer Science). It includes 12 projects and teaches you the fundamentals of engineering and programming. For more information on our Creator Set, check out our previous blog here, where we answer our most asked questions. To purchase the Creator Set, click here.