As a tech blogger, I’m always looking for ways to encourage kids to have fun with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) projects and activities. .
Makey Makey received.
Helping children grow confidence in these areas is crucial because they are a big part of our lives especially today in our always connected cultural. I always feel that children learn better when they are having fun and that’s why I am excited for review Makey Makey
Makey Makey allows kids to turn every day objects into keyboards and combine them with the internet. It allows for a lot of creativity. Here are just some examples:
- Play Mario on Play-Doh
- Play the piano on bananas
- Draw a joystick with a pencil and play PacMan by touching the drawing with your finger
- Load up your email program and send a message using a custom alphabet soup keyboard
Using it is pretty simple and it lets kids imaginations run wild. Once you’ve unboxed it, connect it to your computer and grab an out of the ordinary object, let’s say a banana in this instance. Next you put an alligator clip onto the banana on one end and connect it to the Makey Makey Board on the other. Grab another alligator clip and attach it to the board too and hold the other end in your hand. Now when you touch the banana, you make a connection, and Makey Makey sends the computer a keyboard message. The computer thinks it’s coming from a regular keyboard or mouse and it works with all programs and webpages.
Still confused? Here’s Dave & Logan showing you how it works:
How fun is that?
There are a number of creative videos on the Makey Makey site as well. Here are a few of our favorites:
MaKey MaKey works with any laptop or computer with a USB port and a recent operating system. It works with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Mac OSX.
We have had fun with Makey Makey and I love that it is a product that is also a project initiated by two students at the MIT Media Lab. They believe that everyone can create the future and change the world and they’ve dedicated their lives to making easy to use invention kits. This is an inspiring and creative product that does a fantastic job of merging creativity, imagination, science, and tech and would make a great gift for anyone with kids in their lives.
