Maker Monday with the MaKey MaKey

There's a new MaKey MaKey station in the library, and it already has my wheels spinning.  A couple of 6th graders tried it out toward the end of library class last Friday, but things weren't going exactly as planned.

So, I tweaked my directions (Makey Makey Guide) and set everything up again today.  Success!  One of those 6th graders was back in the library at the end of Monday and got a chance to give it a spin:

 

I see big possibilities with this technology!  Notice that the piano he is interacting with was created in Scratch.  These 6th graders have a little bit of experience using Scratch, and I am hoping a few more might work with it this Spring.  We have 4 more MaKey MaKeys on the way.*

This station will also have books on electronic circuits, conductive materials,  computer programming, music, and art. It's important to let them explore how the text explains the tech and the tech enlivens the text.

*Note:  If you were one of our 3D Printer donors last year, thank you for making this possible. I'm purchasing the extra MaKey MaKeys with some of the matching grant funds we got thanks to your generous donations during our participating in the Friends and Family week.