This is an idea for a pendant to wear around your neck to emphasize your point/opinion/answer. Designed for harassed mothers, but could also be worn by overworked elementary school teachers, or the lone woman ignored in a corporate board room! So many uses for this necklace!! The wonderful aspect to this pendant is that, with the addition of the Circuit Playground Express, sound and light emphasize what you are saying, making it harder for kids, students, and co-workers to ignore your answers or opinions.

This has a completely flexible design, and you can choose the materials you use. This also can be coded in Adafruit's MakeCode to your personal specifications and sound choices.

I hope you enjoy creating your own Mama Says Pendant!

Step 1: Materials and Tools

• 1 Circuit Playground Express with battery pack

• 3 AAA batteries

• Material for necklace (I used a string of LED lights)

• 1 2032 disc battery in case you need it (I used it to power LED string lights)

• Material to create pendant and hold battery pack and circuit board (I used ribbon)

• string, leather, thread, etc in case you need it

• tape

• scissors

These are some of the materials and tools I gathered together, but your materials may differ based on what you want your pendant and necklace to be made from. Get creative!

Other Suggested Items

• Needle and thread (not shown but could be handy)

• Conductive thread • Sewable battery holder

• Other small LED lights

• Any other cool stuff that you want to use to make you pendant and necklace look "witchy" and powerful

Step 2: Program the Circuit Playground Express

The first step is to program the Adafruit circuit board through their MakeCode on their website.

https://makecode.adafruit.com/#

This is super easy to get started and is a very simple block code program. You can see my coding in this image. There are choices for sounds and light effects which you can choose. This program is for the "harassed mother" and highlights include; a button to glow in pretty colors and plays an uplifting chime for a "yes" answer, a button to trigger a siren and warning lights for a "no" answer, a simple shake to emphasize a "NO" when a child refuses to listen. Also includes a quiet lullaby and no lights when entering a dark nursery late at night to quiet a fussy non-sleeper.

This program code can be built upon and more options added, the only limit is your imagination! Once the program is coded you must load the program into the circuit board via a USB cord which comes in the Circuit Playground Express kit. Follow the instructions in Adafruit's MakeCode and it is a simple download, then drag and drop. NOTE to Mac Users: The Mac gives a message stating that you have ejected the circuit board improperly, but close this message and ignore. Your circuit board has been loaded up and is ready to go!

It is important to test the coding in the circuit board just to double check it before you put it into the pendant.

Step 3: Create the Necklace

Choose your preferred material and make a necklace. Plan ahead and think about how you will attach the pendant which includes the Circuit Playground Express. I used the LED string lights and created a coil from the cord of the lights then wrapped the lights around the cord. The LED lights had the added bonus of making sure the anyone could "see" Mama coming and stop doing naughty things before she becomes aware there is a problem! I attached the battery pack to the cord, and used a 2032 disc battery to power the LED string lights, which I just attached with tape.

Step 4: Make the Pendant

This is also a flexible step, and you can get creative with the design and implementation. I wanted to hide the battery pack of the circuit board as well as the battery connection of the LED string, plus I currently have limited supplies, so I chose to wrap ribbon around the batteries. This actually then created a nice platform to mount the "witch medallion" (i.e. Circuit Playground Express). I used tape and a bit of colored string to strap on the circuit board. Voila!

Step 5: Wear Your Pendant and Feel Your Power

Put your pendant on and feel the power that comes with added lights and noises to support your voice. Wearing a pussy hat (https://www.pussyhatproject.com/knit) and/or stilettos can also help with the witch/power vibe.