Do you have trouble waking up? Do you keep forgetting to get in bed at a decent time? Are you impressively bad at remembering to take a certain pill twice a day? Do you keep forgetting about that one meeting for work until right before it starts? Do you have multiple stuffed sharks and no idea what to do with them? 

If any (or all) of these seem relatable, then this project is for you! While the scientific consensus is still out on whether stuffed sharks from Ikea help with the last one, I can certainly say that it has a decent chance of helping with all the others.

In this project, you'll take an Ikea Blåhaj (technically pronounced blow-high, although I've never pronounced it like that because it's not as fun as mispronouncing it on purpose) and add a Feather RP2040 with a small speaker to play an audio reminder, and an RTC (real-time clock) to keep the time.

Parts

In addition to the parts and tools on this list, you will need:

Angled shot of black rectangular microcontroller "Feather RP2040"
A new chip means a new Feather, and the Raspberry Pi RP2040 is no exception. When we saw this chip we thought "this chip is going to be awesome when we give it the Feather...
$11.95
In Stock
Prototyping feather wing PCB with loose headers
A Feather board without ambition is a Feather board without FeatherWings!This is the FeatherWing Proto - a prototyping add-on for all Feather boards. Using our...
Out of Stock
Angled shot of a Stacking Headers for Feather - 12-pin and 16-pin female headers.
These two Female Stacking Headers alone are, well, lonely. But pair them with any of our Feather boards and...
$1.25
In Stock
Top view of a black speaker breakout board connected to a round microcontroller via alligator clips. A music note animation emits from the speaker.
Hey, have you heard the good news? With Adafruit STEMMA boards you can easily and safely plug sensors and devices together, like this Adafruit STEMMA Speaker - Plug and Play...
$5.95
In Stock
Angled shot of JST PH 3-pin Plug to Color Coded Alligator Clips Cable.
This cable will let you turn a JST PH 3-pin cable port into 3 individual wires with grippy mini alligator clips. We're carrying these to match up with any of our boards or...
$1.95
In Stock
Angled shot of PCF8523 Real Time Clock Breakout Board.
This is a great battery-backed real time clock (RTC) that allows your microcontroller project to keep track of time even if it is reprogrammed, or if the power is lost. Perfect for...
$4.95
In Stock
Angled shot of CR1220 12mm Diameter - 3V Lithium Coin Cell Battery - CR1220.
These are the highest quality & capacity batteries, the same as shipped with the iCufflinks, iNecklace, Datalogging and GPS Shields, GPS HAT, etc. One battery per order...
$0.95
In Stock
Angled shot of 4 Flora RGB Smart NeoPixel version 2.
What's a wearable project without LEDs? Our favorite part of the Flora platform is these tiny smart pixels. Designed specifically for wearables, these updated Flora NeoPixels have...
Out of Stock
Top view of Adafruit LC709203F LiPoly / LiIon Fuel Gauge and Battery Monitor powered by a Lipoly battery and an OLED display.
Low cost Lithium Polymer batteries have revolutionized electronics - they're thin, they're light, they can be regulated down to 3.3V and they're easy to charge. On your...
Out of Stock
Stainless Medium Conductive Thread - 3 ply - 18 meter/60 ft
After months of searching, we finally have what we consider to be the ultimate conductive thread. It's thin, strong, smooth, and made completely of 316L stainless steel. Once you...
$9.95
In Stock

Get 2 of these

Angled of of JST SH 4-Pin Cable.
This 4-wire cable is 50mm / 1.9" long and fitted with JST SH female 4-pin connectors on both ends. Compared with the chunkier JST PH these are 1mm pitch instead of 2mm, but...
Out of Stock
Angled shot of JST-PH 2-pin Jumper Cable - 100mm long
We use 2 pin JST PH connectors for all our battery packs, and if you want to put a board in series, like our LC709203F Stemma QT battery...
$0.95
In Stock
Lithium Ion Battery Pack with three round cells 3.7V 6600mAh with JST PH connector
Need a massive battery for your project? This lithium-ion pack is made of 3 balanced 2200mAh cells for a total of 6600mA capacity! The cells are connected in parallel and spot-welded...
Out of Stock
Hook-up Wire Spool Set in box with 6 colorful wires coming out
Perfect for bread-boarding, free wiring, etc. This box contains 6 spools of solid-core wire. The wire is easy to solder to and when bent it keeps its shape pretty well. We like to have...
$15.95
In Stock

Tools

Needle set - 3/9 sizes - 20 needles
Mighty needles, sew like the wind! This needle set is the only one you'll need for any sort of hand sewing, especially using our conductive thread and wearable electronics...
Out of Stock
Two piece adjustable soldering iron with blobby temperature adjustable body and separate fancy holder
Known by engineers for making excellent quality tools & soldering irons! This is a genuine Hakko FX-888D with digital temperature control! We worked hard to get...
$129.95
In Stock
Solder Wire - 60/40 Rosin Core - 0.5mm/0.02" diameter.
If you want to make a kit you'll need some solder. This 0.1 lb (about 50 grams) spool is a good amount, not too much (like 1 lb spools) and not too little (like those little...
Out of Stock
Red and black multi-size wire stripplers, closed
These are the finest wire strippers we have used, and if you have to do a lot of wiring, you will agree! They have soft rounded grips - very comfortable to use, and precision ground...
$17.50
In Stock
Red and black diagonal flush cutters
These are the best diagonal cutters, large super-comfortable grip to use and have strong nippers for perfect trimming of wires and leads. I've used my pair every day for years.
Out of Stock
Note: the Ikea Blåhaj may be difficult to find due to Ikea logistics and if they are going to continue stocking this item. Alternatives are to get one on the secondary market or use any stuffed animal, pillow, etc. and make the project your own.

This guide was first published on Mar 22, 2022. It was last updated on Mar 19, 2024.

This page (Overview) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

Text editor powered by tinymce.