The Circuit Playground

The Circuit Playground is a family of small microcontroller boards with LEDs, buttons, and sensors built in.

Designed specifically for novice programmers

Enables students to get up and running quickly with physical computing without worrying about many of the traditional barriers to entry.
Works with App Lab

Using App Lab students can quickly build apps that communicate with external hardware using our block-to-text app development environment.

Device setup requirements

The Circuit Playground is a series of circuit boards produced by Adafruit with a variety of sensors and outputs built in.

There are three variants of the Circuit Playground, two are compatible with App Lab and one of them is not:

The Circuit Playground Classic
The Circuit Playground Express
The Circuit Playground Bluefruit

Wondering which version you have? Check out Adafruit's guide.

Once you have your device, visit the Maker Setup page to connect your Circuit Playground with App Lab.

Getting the Circuit Playground for your classroom

Circuit Playground Classroom Kit

Contains Circuit Playground boards and accessories necessary for using Code.org's curriculum with a class of 30 students.

All educators receive a 10% discount when they apply the code ADAEDU at checkout. Note: The ADAEDU code only applies to orders of $250 or greater.

Get the classroom kit

Circuit Playground Individual Kit

For smaller classrooms, we recommend investing in a set of Circuit Playground Individual Kits. The individual kit is designed for a single student or pair of students.

Get the individual kit

Out of stock? Try looking at other approved Adafruit distributors.

Curriculum using the Circuit Playground

Grades 6-12

Creating Apps with Devices

Explore the role of physical devices in computing. Using App Lab and Adafruit's Circuit Playground, students develop programs that utilize the same hardware inputs and outputs that you see in the smart devices.

Duration: 25 hours

Explore the unit

6-12 Teachers