Magical Light Up Turtle

Welcome! What you will need are the supplies listed below and an account on makecode.adafruit.com. Enjoy!

Circus Play Experience Disc

Computer Program at MakeCode.adafruit.com

USB cord

Felt (dark green, medium green, light green, or other colors)

String (dark blue, light green, yellow, or other colors)

Needle

Battery pack

3 AAA batteries

Scissors

Stretchable band

Firstly, I designated different responses for the following actions: Press "A" button, press "b" button, tilt up, tilt down, tilt left, tilt right, and shake. You can test the commands on the virtual CPX disc on the left.

Save the file at the bottom of the screen.

Then, plug in your CPX disc to the computer with a USB cord. Click "reset" in the center until the lights turn green. Then the CPX disc icon should show up on the desktop, and the disc should be free to receive programming.

On the browser, click "download" on the saved file. On the upper right, click the "downloads" button and right click on the file - click "show in Finder". When the file is highlighted in Finder, right click and click "Copy ________". Then go to Desktop, right click, and select "Paste".

Now you should have a copy of the programming file on the desktop, and be able to see the CPX disc icon on the Desktop. Drag the programming file over the CPX disc icon, and the green lights should turn off. That indicates that the programming should have been received. Test the "A" and "B" buttons, and try shaking and tilting the disc to test the programming.

In this example, I've constructed the top of my shell by stitching a smaller light green felt circle to the inner edge of a larger, dark green ring-shaped felt piece. You don't want to layer 2 pieces of felt because you want the light to shine through the felt.

Then I've added my own turtle shell design. Feel free to take creative liberties! When you're doing this, plan out where you would like for the button "A" and "B" indicators to be. Mine will be in the middle circle, split into two sections. See following steps for the end result.

With another piece of felt, trace the circular shape of the shell, and cut it out. Place this circular piece of felt beneath the shell you've stitched, and begin to sew the dark green outer ring to the felt piece underneath. You can incorporate an outer shell design during this portion. When the two pieces are halfway sewn together, place the disc carefully inside so the buttons are aligned with the design. Then carefully sew the shell closed. You've encased the CPX disc inside of your shell design!

For the body: sketch out the shape of your turtle body beneath the shell, and cut it out (with the pen marks faced down). Attach the shell to the top of the body in two spots, leaving the rest of the space accessible to later sew to the bottom part of the turtle to the top (during step 6).

Now, you will make the underlying component of the turtle's body, which will hold the battery on the turtle's "belly". First, trace the turtle's body shape on another piece of felt. Then, create a small border around this outline. This is what you will eventually sew to the other turtle component. First, though, we will attach the battery "pocket" to the felt.

Cut out a rectangular piece of felt, and place it over the battery and the turtle outline to figure out placement. Once you have found an area where the battery will fit, cut out square portions so that the felt fits perfectly on all sides of the back of the battery, and start to stitch one side to the felt (picture 1). You need not keep the battery in place during the whole process of stitching down the battery pack, just place it back in once in a while to ensure that the fit is still correct. You also want to make sure to sew the stretchy band on the top and bottom of the pocket with multiple stitches on each end of the stretchy band - not too tightly, just enough to keep the battery in place when it's inside (pictures 2 & 3).

Now you have the CPX disc, shell, and body on one side, and the battery and turtle "belly" on the other side. What you will do is place them one on top of the other so that there is a slight border when looking from the top, and sew them together.

Now, you can remove the battery and flip the switch on! Test out all of the different commands by pressing the shell and shaking and tilting the turtle, and enjoy!