MaKey MaKey

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MaKey MaKey is an invention kit for the 21st Century. Turn everyday objects into touchpads and combine them with the Internet. It's a simple Invention Kit for Beginners and Experts doing art, music, engineering, and everything in between.

Challenge: MaKey MaKey Piano

Directions

  1. Watch this video that introduces the MaKey MaKey and what it can do.
  2. Select a piano website from this list.
  3. List the keys needed to control the piano you've found.
  4. Design your new "piano." It can be as simple as one of the methods shown in the video or as complex as you want it to be, so long as it works.
  5. Connect wires from the pertinent parts of your controller to the pertinent parts of your MakeyMakey, and connect it via USB to your computer.
  6. Practice playing your "piano." You will likely want to use headphones for this part.
  7. Record yourself (or have a classmate record you) playing a simple song with your designed "piano," this time WITHOUT headphones.
  8. Save and Share.

NEW:

MaKey MaKey Labz

  • A place for you to enroll students and track their learning.

MaKey MaKey Educator's Guide

  • Basic Intro to MaKey MaKey, Lesson Plans, Info for Administrators and MORE!

MaKey MaKey Lesson Plans

  • Complete with Challenge Cards - Great for use in a Makerspace-in-a-Box setting

MaKey MaKey Lesson Plans for Lego

  • If you have Legos, these lessons integrate Legos and design challenges suitable for Grade 3 and up.

Websites

Rubric

  1. 30% MakeyMakey wires are connected correctly.
  2. 30% User interface does NOT resemble a piano.
  3. 20% Video shows the MakeyMakey being used to play a song in a way other than just touching the wires or the MakeyMakey itself.
  4. 20% Song includes no fewer than 4 different notes being repeated. (Copying a kitten walking across a keyboard does not count as a song.)