Holiday Gift Idea: Makey Makey

My kids are into all things electronic this year. They really are great about not being too into the commercialized items and making wise “list choice”.  This choice was all “Santa’s”. I found this Makey Makey while doing some research on STEM toys. This is the coolest thing ever!

What is Makey Makey?

Makey Makey is a small electronic circuit that you can plug into every day items to turn them into a computer touchpad. You don’t need any knowledge of circuits or programming. You just plug and play. Heck, you can turn a banana into a controller!! How cool is that?!

So how is it?

Thanks to the folks at Makey Makey I got to play with it myself. This thing is so much fun. Really the possibilities are endless. With some creativity this is one of those gifts that just keeps on giving. I don’t think the kids will ever get bored with it, and if they do….I will certainly take it off of their hands. 

A little about the company

Using a simple concept of hooking up everyday objects to small circuits, founder/CEO Jay Silver created the award-winning Makey Makey Invention Kit — an educational tool that tuns any object into a computer touchpad and combines them with the internet — to change the way we interact with the world. The one time Kickstarter darling ($500k+ in 2012) is now providing free STEM education initiatives with in-person tutors traveling to partner schools worldwide, all on their dime. They will be launching a project-based online earning platform in a few weeks too, so kids can keep learning valuable hands-on skills beyond the classroom.

Where to find it

You can get a Makey Makey of your very own on Amazon.com and from other retailers. Currently amazon has them for $49.99 which is really reasonable for everything it does!