I really enjoyed reading about both of your projects and how you moved from low tech to high tech. Both of these are pretty great and I’d love to try them out. 
PS I love your wife’s shirt!
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So, finally posting my prompt 1 project. It took me a little bit to think of what I wanted to do and looking through the materials Avery sent I came upon these two pieces of origami paper and thought about conveying how love makes you feel. I liked how both of these designs incorporated waves, one side calm and soothing and the other passionate and exciting both representing the way that love can feel, a duality of sorts. I added a paper circuit element and made the piece 3-dimensional with the light glowing from underneath, representing the calm, the warmth, all the ways love can make you feel inside.
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Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeve has been the most challenging prompt for me throughout my time with this group. This was one that challenged me to apply the creative learning concepts and enjoy the process without getting bogged down by my technical limitations. In the session with Caitlin I followed her example with the micro:bit, placed wires in the same spots that she did, asked plenty of questions and I STILL couldn’t make my wearable actually work. I felt a little frustrated, but remembering to enjoy the design process made it okay.
Once I released the anxiety about the bread boards, Flora and other unfamiliar tech, I came up with a few different ideas. I keep going back to music, maybe because I find that music can be a universal way to express emotion, the “unseen”, and oftentimes can speak to what we feel when we don’t quite have the words to emote.
I created a few different wearables using a bit of the paper inflatables project to make an origami lantern and kite. I attached them to a string of Mardi Gras beads to make a necklace and a pipe cleaner for a ring. Using a Makey Makey(because it was what I had at home. I tried the micro:bit and still have much to learn),conceptually your necklace or ring will detect motion, or lack thereof, and sense if you are breathing deeply at regular intervals. When shallow breathing is detected, the Makey Makey will signal a playlist of guided breathing or relaxing music to begin playing for 20 seconds prompting you to relax & breathe. This could be a reminder to take a moment for mindfulness (tying in the mental health aspects we’ve discussed in the group).
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I love both of these. The mental health check in accessory is really great!