Builds

The project pipeline: what we're building, what it takes, and who does what. Every build gives the youngest maker on the team a real job.

Halloween lane is up first — picks land soon, and this page fills in with build logs, photos, and footage as the work happens.

Motion-sensing graveyard

planned

A PIR sensor spots trick-or-treaters and a servo pops a ghost up to greet them.

Parts
~$18 (Arduino, PIR sensor, servo) + cardboard and craft supplies
Effort
2–3 evenings
Kids
Build the tombstones and ghost, aim the sensor, run deployment night.

Ghost-writing wand

planned

A persistence-of-vision LED strip that writes glowing words in the dark — captured with long-exposure photos.

Parts
~$20 (WS2812B strip, battery pack, dowel)
Effort
2 evenings (needs darkness)
Kids
Design the messages, wave the wand for the camera.

Fog cannon

planned

Cooler + dry ice + fan lays low fog across the yard; a laser pointer becomes a "ghost detector".

Parts
~$18 (dry ice, fan) + a cooler
Effort
1 evening + Halloween night
Kids
Build the cannon housing and effects; adult owns dry-ice handling and ventilation.

Haunted cardboard automaton

planned

Cardboard cams, a follower, and a crank — turn the handle and a spider rises and waves. Zero code.

Parts
~$0 (cardboard, dowels, glue)
Effort
1–2 evenings
Kids
Kid-led: design the creature, cut the cams, assemble the mechanism.

Never-rotting pumpkin

planned

A foam pumpkin with a flickering LED circuit that outlasts every real jack-o’-lantern on the block.

Parts
~$8–18 (foam pumpkin, LED flicker circuit)
Effort
1 evening
Kids
Kid-led: carve the foam, wire the flicker circuit with adult guidance.

Haunted paper-circuit house

planned

A paper house where the windows are the switches — press one and a room lights up.

Parts
Pocket change (paper, copper tape, coin cells, LEDs)
Effort
1 evening
Kids
Draw the house, lay the copper-tape circuits, test every window.