Run every Tinkerwith project with everyday technology and cheap local parts. One small core buy — a microcontroller — and everything else you can salvage, source locally, or skip with the free simulator.
It’s the “brain” every Arduino project shares — an Arduino Uno or Nano, or a low-cost clone for a few hundred shillings, reused across all nine projects. Can’t buy one yet? Build and test the whole circuit free in the Tinkercad simulator first. Everything else on this page, you can tinker with what you have.
Start a classroom box. These everyday things hide the parts most projects need — ask families and repair shops to save them.
The Optional add-on is a cheap part to buy only if you can’t salvage it. Everything under You already have comes from the salvage shelf.
HaveCardboard house, salvaged LEDs, a card buzzer, an LDR from a remote, bottle-cap buttons.
Add-onA PIR motion sensor, or a small servo for a door.
HaveMotors & wheels from a toy car, a cardboard or bottle chassis, AA holder or power bank, a bottle-cap caster.
Add-onA motor driver + an ultrasonic or IR sensor.
HaveCardboard blocks, salvaged LEDs for traffic lights and street lamps, an LDR, a buzzer.
Add-onNone needed.
HaveIce-cream sticks, cardboard, bottle caps and rubber bands for the arm (or syringes for unplugged hydraulics).
Add-on2–4 hobby servos — the one part worth buying here.
HaveAn old cap or T-shirt, salvaged LEDs, foil tape as a conductive track, a coin or AA battery.
Add-onA tilt or temperature sensor, if you want sensing.
HaveTwo nails + wire for a DIY soil-moisture probe, a bottle planter, salvaged LEDs.
Add-onA temperature / humidity sensor.
HaveA speaker or piezo from old electronics, buttons from a remote, a potentiometer from a radio, a cardboard body.
Add-onNone needed.
HaveA DIY nail moisture probe, a bottle reservoir, LED or buzzer alerts from salvage.
Add-onA mini water pump, for auto-watering.
HaveYour phone as the remote, salvaged LEDs and motors.
Add-onA Bluetooth module (HC-05 / HC-06).
HaveThe Smart City salvage above, plus a phone or laptop for the AI parts.
Add-onSame as Smart City — the AI runs in a browser.
These are suggestions to spark local sourcing, not a parts list. Always follow a project’s own materials list, and test salvaged parts before class. Want help adapting a project to what your learners can find locally? Message Anne on WhatsApp or head back to the Workbench.