MaKey MaKey Invention Kit

$50, Mac OSX, Windows, Linux

Teaches: electronics, circuits, technology, electricity

CTR Rating: 90%

CTR Review

This $50 switching kit lets you control events on your computer screen by touching items like clay, bananas or plants. At the heart of the kit is a small Arduino-like circuit board (about the size of a playing card). After you plug the device into your PC or windows laptop using the included USB cable, you can control events on your screen by touching arrows, the spacebar or click controls on the board. There are instructions for about 12 different projects; although it is possible to come up with many possibilities. We found the board to be well designed, and things worked the first time without any glitches. For example, you can make a game controller by first finding a game online, then making some buttons out of clay and sticking them on a table. You then have to ground yourself by touching an alligator clip that is correctly connected to the board. Rearrange the wires, and these same clay clumps can become a keyboard. In the box: one MaKey MaKey circuit board; one USB Cable; 7 Alligator Clips; 6 Connector Wires; Instructions and Visual Project Start Guide and 20 Color Stickers. Not in the box -- your fingers, any bananas or a computer. We tested the kit using a MacBook Air and it worked just fine. This project is based on Research at MIT Media Lab's Lifelong Kindergarten but the kit is sold by a private, for-profit company. Note that MaKey MaKey runs on top of Arduino, and you can start using your MaKey MaKey board in "Arduino mode" at any time. This would allow you to spin motors, turn on LEDs, or anything else that an Arduino can do. There's no need to understand Arduino in order to use MaKey MaKey.