Introducing Piper Make: a Raspberry Pi Pico-friendly drag-n-drop coding tool that’s free for anyone to use.

Edtech startup Piper, Inc. launched this brand new browser-based coding tool on #PiDay. If you already have a Raspberry Pi Pico, head to make.playpiper.com and start playing with the coding tool for free.

Complete coding challenges with Pico

The block coding environment invites you to try a series of challenges. When you succeed in blinking an LED, the next challenge is opened up to you. New challenges are released every month, and it’s a great way to guide your learning and give you a sense of achievement as you check off each task.

But I don’t have a Pico or the components I need!

You’re going to need some kit to complete these challenges. The components you’ll need are easy to get hold of, and they’re things you probably already have lying around if you like to tinker, but if you’re a coding newbie and don’t have a workshop full of trinkets, Piper makes it easy for you. You can join their Makers Club and receive a one-off Starter Kit containing a Raspberry Pi Pico, LEDs, resistors, switches, and wires.

If you sign up to Piper’s Monthly Makers Club you’ll receive the Starter Kit, plus new hardware each month to help you complete the latest challenge. Each Raspberry Pi Pico board ships with Piper Make firmware already loaded, so you can plug and play.

If you already have things like a breadboard, LEDs, and so on, then you don’t need to sign up at all. Dive straight in and get started on the challenges.

I have a Raspberry Pi Pico. How do I play?

A quick tip before we go: when you hit the Piper Make landing page for the first time, don’t click ‘Getting Started’ just yet. You need to set up your Pico first of all, so scroll down and select ‘Setup my Pico’. Once you’ve done that, you’re good to go.