MAKEY MAKEY
A MaKey-MaKey is a small invention kit that comes with a MaKey-MaKey board, wires, alligator clips and a USB cable. You can take everyday objects and turn them into a touchpad that interacts with a computer program. Objects attached to the MaKey-MaKey become "buttons" that replace a basic keyboard or mouse. To see how it works watch this video https://youtu.be/rfQqh7iCcOU
Lesson One: HOOK DAY! Teacher assembles and connects a couple of MaKey-MaKeys to computers that has a program or game pulled up on the screen. Be sure to check out these free MaKey-MaKey apps (fun games) if you need an idea of something to use. Students learn how to control the games by holding the ground clip and touching whatever materials are hooked-up to the MaKey-MaKey. 8 out of 10 students always ask, "How does it do that?"
Lesson Two: Students learn how to assemble the MaKey-MaKey. Teacher puts students into small groups and gives each group a laptop. Students are asked to find a school appropriate game online that operates by pressing the four different arrows on the keyboard (4 arrows= 4 alligator clips that will be attached to the arrow section on the MaKey-MaKey). It will blow your mind how quickly they will be able to pull up a game😉 In case you need back-up, here are a few games I have used in the past:
Teacher verbally walks students through assembling and hooking up the MaKey-MaKey. Here is a quick video tutorial of how you would set it up for this lesson: https://youtu.be/qg-Jw3plDTY
Alternative: Have students follow THESE visual directions. Supply a variety of materials for students to choose from in which they will attach the MaKey-MaKey alligator clips. It is fun to supply a variety of materials for students to test out--those that conduct and those that do not.
Lesson Three: INTRO to CODING DAY! Students learn the basics of coding. I like to use code.org's Hour of Code for students to complete at their own pace. This teaches them the foundations of block coding. There are many different programs available for beginning coders but this is the one I always seem to use. The MaKey-MaKey is not used.
Lesson Four: SCRATCH DAY! Students transfer the skills they learned in lesson three to the Scratch program. I print out THESE FREE Scratch cards for students to use to learn the ins and outs of programming in Scratch. If time allows, students can start creating their own interactive story, game or animation that relates to a topic they are learning about in school. The MaKey-MaKey is not used.
Lesson Five: PROJECT DAY! Students use Scratch to design an interactive story, game or animation that is controlled by the four arrows on the computer keyboard. They will finish by assembling and hooking-up a MaKey-MaKey to control their program.
Here are a few additional lesson ideas:
General Plans from the Makey Makey Website (various grades and topics) : https://makeymakey.com/lessons/
Sources: TheTechieTeacher.net
MakeyMaky.com
Instructables.com
Lesson One: HOOK DAY! Teacher assembles and connects a couple of MaKey-MaKeys to computers that has a program or game pulled up on the screen. Be sure to check out these free MaKey-MaKey apps (fun games) if you need an idea of something to use. Students learn how to control the games by holding the ground clip and touching whatever materials are hooked-up to the MaKey-MaKey. 8 out of 10 students always ask, "How does it do that?"
Lesson Two: Students learn how to assemble the MaKey-MaKey. Teacher puts students into small groups and gives each group a laptop. Students are asked to find a school appropriate game online that operates by pressing the four different arrows on the keyboard (4 arrows= 4 alligator clips that will be attached to the arrow section on the MaKey-MaKey). It will blow your mind how quickly they will be able to pull up a game😉 In case you need back-up, here are a few games I have used in the past:
Teacher verbally walks students through assembling and hooking up the MaKey-MaKey. Here is a quick video tutorial of how you would set it up for this lesson: https://youtu.be/qg-Jw3plDTY
Alternative: Have students follow THESE visual directions. Supply a variety of materials for students to choose from in which they will attach the MaKey-MaKey alligator clips. It is fun to supply a variety of materials for students to test out--those that conduct and those that do not.
Lesson Three: INTRO to CODING DAY! Students learn the basics of coding. I like to use code.org's Hour of Code for students to complete at their own pace. This teaches them the foundations of block coding. There are many different programs available for beginning coders but this is the one I always seem to use. The MaKey-MaKey is not used.
Lesson Four: SCRATCH DAY! Students transfer the skills they learned in lesson three to the Scratch program. I print out THESE FREE Scratch cards for students to use to learn the ins and outs of programming in Scratch. If time allows, students can start creating their own interactive story, game or animation that relates to a topic they are learning about in school. The MaKey-MaKey is not used.
Lesson Five: PROJECT DAY! Students use Scratch to design an interactive story, game or animation that is controlled by the four arrows on the computer keyboard. They will finish by assembling and hooking-up a MaKey-MaKey to control their program.
Here are a few additional lesson ideas:
- Water Piano: Sound/Pitch
- Money: Counting Coins
- Interactive Compass Rose: Cardinal Directions
- Affixes with Pencil Led: Prefixes, Root Words and Suffixes
- Decorate a Tree with Synonyms and Antonyms
- Math Word Problems
- Transformations
- Main Idea and Details Table
- Interactive Animal Cell
- Measurement: Length
- Measurement: Distance Length & Time
- Reading Skill: Visualizing
- Classify and Sort
- Interactive Maps
- Interactive Murals & Posters
- DanceDance Revolution Mat
- Xylophone
- Interactive Art
General Plans from the Makey Makey Website (various grades and topics) : https://makeymakey.com/lessons/
Sources: TheTechieTeacher.net
MakeyMaky.com
Instructables.com
