Makey Makey

Makey Makey is magic. It's a simple micro controller that allows you to make any kind of conductive object or material interactive, as long as it is connected to your PC. A Makey Makey kit costs around 55,- and comes standard with alligator clips to connect your Makey Makey set with objects such as bananas, play dough, anything that is conductive. After I introduced it in our Coding/Maker workshop, the students all wanted to get their hands on it, so today I ran into the biggest Conrad shop and of Berlin-Schöneberg and asked whether they sold Makey Makey kits in the store - as I saw they sell them online. "Wie bitte?!" The lady behind the information booth looked as if I asked her something entirely inappropriate. "Was ist das?" she demanded. I was in a hurry and not sure whether I could explain what this micro controller does, so I asked her whether she could just check her computer - the answer was no. I should ask inside. After two salespeople re-directed me to someone else, I talked to what should have been the top expert. A tall guy, missing a front tooth and proudly wearing a button that said 'tekkie', looked at me with a confused look on his face - my question irritated him. He was sure that I mentioned the wrong name. In the end he googled it and told me he could order it online. No thanks, I can actually do that myself... So Makey Makey is not yet known to the Conrad Tekkies, but my students love it and have started creating interactive room-mazes, Scratch games controlled by bananas and interactive posters for my younger students. I just got a roll of copper wire for further projects, and to be honest, I can't wait! Check the video here.