Makey Makey Kit

What is Makey Makey?

Makey Makey is an invention kit for the 21st century. Turn everyday objects into touchpads and connect them with the internet. A simple Invention Kit for Beginners and Experts doing art, engineering and everything in between:

Kit Content: Makey Makey Board, Crocodile Cables, USB Cable and Additional 10 Jumper Cables

How Does Makey Makey Work?

Clip two objects to the Makey Makey board with alligator wire. For example, you and a banana!

When you tap the banana, you make a connection and Makey Makey sends a keyboard message to the computer. The computer just thinks Makey Makey is a regular keyboard (or mouse). Therefore it works with all programs and web pages, because all programs and web pages take keyboard and mouse input.

Make + Key = Makey Makey!

Who is Makey Makey Suitable for?

Artists, Kids, Educators, Engineers, Designers, Inventors, Manufacturers... Truly for everyone. Here's a photo of an 8-year-old using Makey Makey:

He invented a "blade-navigation" interface for chopping virtual wood in an online game.

What Materials Does Makey Makey Work With?

Any material that can conduct at least some electricity will work. Ketchup, pencil graffiti, finger paint, lemon, etc. Some materials people use:

Other materials that work great: Plants, Coins, Grandma, Silverware, Anything Wet, Food, Cats and Dogs, Aluminum Foil, Rain, and hundreds of other things...

What Can I Do with Makey Makey?

It's up to you! First, open a computer program or any web page.

Let's say you opened a piano playing page. Instead of using computer keyboard buttons to play the piano, you can connect Makey Makey with bananas and turn the bananas into piano keys!

Or let's take help from Google for an online Pacman game and draw a joystick with a pencil:

Then you can play Pacman by touching the drawing.

Or you can send a message with alphabet-soup keyboard:

Makey Makey Library

Makey Makey works with any software that uses a keyboard or mouse. You can really use any web page or any computer application. If you wish, you can also check out Makey Makey applications.

Makey To browse Makey apps

How to install?

1) Plug in the USB cable

You can make the connection so that the small side of the USB cable is plugged into the Makey Makey.

2) Close the popup

Your computer may prompt you to install drivers or make other settings. You can click Cancel or close the window. You don't need to install any software.

3) Connect grounding

Connect one end of an alligator cable clip to the "Ground" on the bottom of the front of the Makey Makey.

4) Connect one end of the grounding to yourself

Hold the metal piece at the other end of the alligator clip between your fingers. This way you will ground. (If you are wearing a ring, you can tie it to your ring with a crocodile.)

5) Make a connection to the Space field on the Board and try

While Grounding is active, tap the circular "Space" pad on Makey Makey. You should see a green light on Makey Makey and your computer thinks the space bar is pressed. You can also complete the circuit by connecting another crocodile clip to "space".

6) Connect items!

You can try to make drums from anything with drum applications.

Try Different Ingredients

Switch things! You can make a connection with anything that is slightly conductive. You can also create inventions that combine conductive and non-conductive parts.