08/09/2026
🎶🔌 Coming to our Music STEAM Tech Clubs in Shoeburyness very soon...
We've had ongoing conversations with Ltd — the official UK distributor for SPOKE board — and we've landed a deal! 🙌We're thrilled to announce that Southend Music STEAM Tech Clubs has officially partnered with SPOKE board to source and deliver these brilliant, playful, capacitive-touch music-making kits across our clubs and holiday camps.
SPOKE turns literally anything conductive — metal, fruit, foil, even a felt MiniMu glove! — into a musical instrument or game controller. No soldering, no complicated code, just plug in and start creating. It opens up a whole new world of creative coding + music-making for our learners. 🎹🍌⚡
One of the projects that got us properly excited?
"The Amazing Cringey Jukebox" — built by a youth digital skills club who turned a stash of cringeworthy videos into a fully wired, hand-designed jukebox with hidden buttons, secret animations, and even a "cringe rating" voting system built entirely by the kids. THAT is exactly the kind of imaginative, self-directed making we want to bring to Shoeburyness. 👉 Read the full story
🧠 Top 5 Skills Our Learners Will Build — Autism & SEND-Friendly by Design
At SMSTEAMTECH, we believe in expanding minds that think differently but can make a huge contribution to our world. SPOKE's tactile, low-barrier, sensory-friendly design makes it a perfect fit for our neurodiverse learners.
🐦 Sanderlings (ages 8–11)
Cause & effect coding logic — touch a material, trigger a sound — building early computational thinking without screens or pressure
Sensory-safe exploration — hands-on, tactile learning that supports children who process the world through touch and movement
Turn-taking & collaborative play — sharing a board to build a group "instrument" grows social confidence in a low-stakes way
Creative self-expression — making their own sound with everyday objects builds pride and ownership
Focus & regulation — short, satisfying feedback loops (touch → sound) support attention and calm engagement
Tangible impact: children see an instant result from their own action — a powerful confidence-builder for kids who often feel "behind" in traditional classroom settings.
🐟 Kingfishers (ages 12–16)
Circuit & conductivity fundamentals — real hands-on electronics knowledge, no prior experience needed
CircuitPython coding — editing real code to customise sound, sensitivity, and behaviour
Project design & problem-solving — planning a build from concept to finished, working instrument (just like the Cringey Jukebox team did!)
Music technology & MIDI literacy — understanding how physical input becomes digital sound, a genuine pathway into music production and sound engineering
Presentation & pride in output — showing off a finished, working creation builds self-belief and a sense of contribution
Tangible impact: teens who may struggle with conventional "sit and listen" learning get to lead a build, make mistakes safely, and walk away with something real — a proven confidence and self-esteem boost, especially for autistic and SEND learners who often feel their strengths go unseen.
👉 Spaces are limited. Visit www.southendmusictechclubs.co.uk/book-online to register your interest and be first in line when SPOKE kits land in our clubs!
https://www.spokeboard.com/builtwithspoke/the-amazing-cringey-jukebox?ss_source=sscampaigns&ss_campaign_id=6a9fbb188f4abe5b7ebd422d&ss_email_id=6a9fbffe8f4abe5b7ebd5024&ss_campaign_name=Built-With-Spoke+%26+International+Stock&ss_campaign_sent_date=2026-09-08T07%3A57%3A51Z
At the end of the summer term, the Everything Electronic youth club, a free digital skills club for young people run by the Cromar Future Group in rural Aberdeenshire, wrapped up their STEM sessions with a project only a group of imaginative kids could have dreamed up: the Amazingly Cringe Juke Box.
