Makey Makey is an invention kit for the 21st century.
With Makey Makey everyday objects are transformed into touchpads empowering students to interact with computers as creative tools. The computer becomes an extension of their creativity, fostering imaginative play and discovery. Screen time, so often the bane of parents and teachers, becomes play, discovery, and invention time.
“Makey Makey” is a play on words - students having the ability to Make their own Keyboards (“Ma-Key”). The mundane and boring keyboard is replaced by any object that conducts electricity - pie pans, Play-Doh, bananas, and even potted plants - the list goes on! When students create their own method of interfacing with the computer, barriers to learning and creating give way to a world of exploration that is on their terms. Whether they are coding on Scratch, playing Pacman or jamming with music software, interactive and genuine learning takes place because students are guided by their interests and passion.
Makey Makey is part of a creative and technological downshift in which very smart electronics are simplified to make the world manipulable by ordinary people in ways previously available only to developers. The heart of Makey Makey is its circuit board that connects to a computer via a USB cable. Building circuits that can be used like a joystick or a keyboard key allows users with no coding experience to use Makey Makey to learn, experiment, and invent.
