Keeping Coolest Projects safe and open to all
Coolest Projects is the technology showcase for all young creators, and we want to make it fun, safe, and inclusive for everyone. Here are some top tips for adult mentors supporting young people to get involved.
- Make sure you’re familiar with the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s safeguarding policy and our safeguarding resources. If you’re working directly with children, young people, and vulnerable adults, and you have any safeguarding concerns, you should report them to us immediately.
- Have a quick check of the projects your young people are submitting — we can’t accept any projects that depict graphic violence or use bad language, for example. See our Community Guidelines for details.
- If you volunteer to work with young people, try our free, 30 minute interactive safeguarding training, which will help you create a safe learning environment for all young people you engage with.
Community guidelines
We are unable to accept projects that include:
- Bad language such as swearing
- Graphic depictions of violence in games featuring a war setting
- Violence towards people and animals, including:
- Scenes that depict physical abuse such as hitting, throwing objects, or other forms of physical punishment
- Scenes that depict or promote deliberate harm
- Any other realistic act of violence
- Suggestive or mature content, such as nudity or exposure
- Shocking or graphic content
- Discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against race, religion, sexuality, gender, or national origin
- Scams, projects that request money, collect personal data, or are intended for commercial use
- Projects duplicated directly from the original with no attempts to remix or edit
- Non-digital projects (such as crafts, drawings, science projects, or projects made with basic LEGO only)
Make-along: Introduction to the Raspberry Pi Pico
Find out all about the cool projects you can create with a Raspberry Pi Pico! This recorded make-along coding session introduces learners to the basics of the Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller, and shares great ideas for inspiring projects.
Raspberry Pi Pico tutorials
Learn how to make your Coolest Project with a Pico microcontroller! These short video tutorials will teach you all the basics.
Find out what a Raspberry Pi Pico is and how to get set up. Watch the tutorial video.
Connect an LED to a Pico for bright lights, sparkles and flashes! Watch the tutorial video.
Make a button for your Pico to make and break circuits and create cool games. Watch the tutorial video.
Turn it up loud! Find out how to make noise and music by connecting a buzzer to a Pico. Watch the tutorial video.
Youth workbook
This youth workbook will help young creators explore ideas, develop their design thinking, and stay focused on making a super cool project they can share with others.
Session plans
These slides are designed to support mentors to lead awesome young people through their Coolest Projects journey.
Stage 1: Introduction to Coolest Projects and Idea Generation
Learn more about Coolest Projects and start to generate some project ideas with these helpful tips. View our guide to stage one.
Stage 2: Design and Create
Think back on your ideas and get started with your chosen project. View our guide to stage two.
Stage 3: Test and Debug
Testing is an important part of the design process. Find and fix those sneaky bugs in your code! View our guide to stage three.
Stage 4: Present and Register
It's your time to shine and share your project with the world. Tell us all about your project and register it to appear in our global creator's gallery. View our guide to stage four.
Mentor plan
We've created a mentor guidance plan to help you support young people who participate in Coolest Projects.
Any feedback?
We'd love to hear your ideas and feedback on our guidance materials, so that we can improve the resources we provide in the future.
If you have any feedback you'd like to share with us, please email us at [email protected].