Introduction: Makey Makey CollaboThon

About: Computers are going bananas! Use #makeymakey to practice invention literacy and connect the world to your computer.

This project was originally developed in 2013 by the amazing folks at The Tech Studio for their Makerspace Cookbook ! All credit goes to Lindsay Balfour (aka MaKey Lindsay) and Kenny Guglielmino (aka Maker Kenny.) They created this as part of a contest we ran for Makey Makey lovers to design a collaborative activity using our invention kit. The Tech Studio team designed this oversized conductivity and collaborative game where participants were challenged to "work together to score as a chain of human circuits and tin foilery!"

To play, guests had to use their bodies and various tin foil covered objects as wires. The Screen would tell them to run to a location and teams would score points by completing circuits.

The EARTH connection stands in the center of the room, and the key press connections for both teams are on the side. Guests have to daisy chain themselves together either by holding hands or tinfoil objects and run to the front, middle or back to score points. After scoring, the blue dot will move to the next location they need to tap to score more points!

Supplies

Technology
  • 6 - 10 ft long alligator clips (We have 12 X 6ft long alligator clips in our STEM pack)
  • 2 laptops OR 1 laptop and 1 Standing Monitor
  • 2 Makey Makeys
  • 1 Projector
  • Makey CollaboThon Processing Code (Make sure you have imported the "Minim" library for the audio to perform correctly (or build your own Scratch Project)

Demo Table and Large-scale Game Materials

  • 6 rolls of electrical tape
  • 8 boxes of tinfoil
  • 7 stations (6 stations for game buttons, 1 station for the ground)
  • 2 rolls of masking tape
  • 1 roll of gaffer's tape
  • 2 colorful rolls of duct tape (different colors to differentiate teams)
  • 6 -10 ft rugs (for covering alligator clips or wires- something to cover them and keep people from tripping)
  • 12 Sand bags

10 Soft Objects covered in tinfoil per team

  • Pool noodles
  • Soft foam
  • Soft spongy styrofoam
  • Hula hoops
  • Foam swords

Step 1: Set Up and Play

For a full description of how to set up this game and play it, please download the CollaboThon pdf or the entire Makerspace Cookbook created by Lindsay and Kenny!

Visit Kenny's Github to download the Processing Sketch or create your own project with Scratch, Javascript, Python, etc!