STEM Camp
For parents & campers · Take-home guide

Your micro:bit at home

Your camper brought home a real micro:bit — a tiny pocket computer we coded all week — plus a battery pack and a USB cable. It's theirs to keep. Here's how to power it up and keep coding, with nothing to buy and nothing to install.

📦 What came home

  • The micro:bit — the little board with a grid of red lights, two buttons (A and B), and a gold-toothed edge. It's a genuine computer used in schools all over the world.
  • A battery pack — a small holder with 2 AAA batteries and a little plug.
  • A USB cable — for plugging it into a computer to add new code (and to power it).

That's everything you need. No account, no app store, no cost.

🔋 Turn it on — two ways

  • On the go (battery): push the battery pack's small plug into the socket on the back of the micro:bit. It lights up and runs whatever program is loaded. It comes home running a program from camp — press A, press B, or give it a shake to see what it does.
  • At a computer (USB): plug the USB cable from the micro:bit into any computer. That powers it and lets you load new code — it pops up like a little USB stick named MICROBIT.

Blank screen or acting stuck? Unplug the power (USB or battery) for a few seconds and plug it back in — that restarts it.

💻 Make it do new things (code it — free)

Best on a computer using the Chrome or Edge browser:

  1. Go to makecode.microbit.org — it's free and opens right in the browser.
  2. Snap coding blocks together to build a program. (Try a starter tutorial — it walks you through the first one.)
  3. Plug the micro:bit into the computer with the USB cable.
  4. Click Download. If a file downloads, drag that .hex file onto the MICROBIT drive. (Or click Connect once, and Download sends it straight over.)
  5. The lights blink while it loads — then your new program runs. That's it! 🎉

No computer? The free micro:bit app for phones/tablets can send code over Bluetooth. Or keep using our camp apps below — no micro:bit required.

🤖 Robot App Bit Quest (offline)

🆘 Not working? Try this first

Almost every hiccup is one of these:

Nothing happens when I put the battery in
The micro:bit only runs a program that's been loaded onto it — it's not "broken" if the screen is dark. Check the batteries are facing the right way and the little plug is pushed in firmly. Then press A, press B, or shake it — a lot of camp programs wait for a button or a wiggle before they do anything.
My computer doesn't see it / there's no "MICROBIT" drive
Use the USB cable we sent — some cables only charge and can't carry data. Try a different USB port, give it a few seconds, and use Chrome or Edge. If the light near the USB plug is on, it has power and should appear.
It shows up, but my code won't load onto it
Make sure you dragged the .hex file onto the MICROBIT drive (not a different folder), and wait for the little yellow light to stop blinking — that blinking is the code loading. Then unplug and replug and try once more.
Do we need Wi-Fi, an account, or to pay for anything?
No to all three. MakeCode is free, runs in the browser, and needs no sign-in. Everything your camper brought home is free to use forever.
We lost the cable or the batteries
Any micro-USB data cable (the common older phone/controller cable) will work, and it takes 2 AAA batteries. Nothing special to order.

Still stuck? The official micro:bit Help Center has step-by-step articles with pictures → support.microbit.org.

📚 Where to find more (all free & official)

The micro:bit is a real ~$20 computer used in classrooms worldwide — so it keeps up as your camper's ideas get bigger.

🧼 Taking care of it

  • Hold it by the edges, keep it out of water, and pop the batteries out if it's going in a drawer for a long time.
  • It's tougher than it looks — this is the same board handed out to millions of kids — but it's a bare circuit board, so it likes a case or a pouch.

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