1. Introduction to the Challenge

In the last class, you learned how to make switches out of everyday stuff. What if you used this simple switch ideas and simple sewing materials to hack a toy? Today, you will use conductive fabric material for your invention instead of office supplies. To create an interactive toy, you will make two conductive spots on your toy that will complete a circuit when the two spots are pressed together.

Big Ideas for this lesson:

• Create a momentary fabric switch 
• Code your toy with Scratch
• Create kid- friendly alligator clips with clothespins for smaller hands
• Create different spots on your toy for your little sister/brother to test with their clothespin clips 

In this Maker course, we are experimenting with different materials for different inventions to help you start experimenting with your own ideas for creating switches. 

In the same way you can make two pieces of foil touch, you can invent all kinds of actions that will close a switch to send a signal with Makey Makey. 

Here are some common materials when creating sewable electronics. Did you know that you can get thread that is conductive? Conductive thread is made with stainless steel fibers and can be used in place of alligator clips for sewing wearable electronic projects.

The other notions (that's a sewing term to describe small sewing objects or accessories) you can use are quite common. Some folks had success with metal clasps and sewable metal snaps for their Makey Makey invention hacks. 

Let's grab an old toy and give it a new purpose.

In this maker series, you want the projects to be a little more open ended. You can create your toy hack like ours, or you can make different design choices. 

Design Considerations

You have three big decisions to make. First decide how you want to make your toy interactive and next decide what you want your toy to do. How will you actuate the switch? (Actuate means the physical movement that controls your switch.) Do you want a momentary switch or a maintained switch? (Remember these are the switch ideas from our last maker class.) 

• Do you want to shake your toy’s hand to make a light come on?
• Do you want to hold your toy’s hands to make it talk?
• Do you want your guitar toy to become a drum?
• Do you want a snap to make the switch maintained?

You will use conductive fabric material in place of foil to make a switch. To create an interactive toy, you will make two conductive spots on your toy that will complete a circuit when pressed together (or actuated).

If you don't have conductive fabric or thread, you can still use foil, sewable metal snaps, or even clamp binder clips on your toy. If you don't want to use conductive thread, skip down to the alternative "no sew" step.

Using a different material to make this switch helps you get started with experimenting with everyday materials to create your own switches and components. You can follow our toy hack, or hack a toy in your own way!

You’ll need:

• An old toy
• Conductive fabric tape
• Conductive thread
• Two alligator clips
• Makey Makey

2. Sewing a Momentary Switch with Conductive Thread

Place a small piece of conductive fabric tape on each hand of your stuffed toy. 

Then, thread a needle with about 24” conductive thread. Tie a knot at the end of the thread. 

Use the needle to poke from the back of the stuffed toy’s hand, up to the conductive fabric patch. Make sure the thread comes up and over so that is makes a connection on the top of the fabric tape. 

Bring the needle back to the backside of the stuffie’s hand, make one more stitch on the back of the toy, and tie a knot. (You may want to come back through the thread and pull the needle through this loop to make a knot.)

You should have a spot now to clip your alligator clip to on the back of your toy’s hand.  Clip one alligator clip to each hand.

On your Makey Makey, plug one alligator clip to SPACE and the other to an EARTH connection on the bottom row. 

Now when your toy’s hands touch, it will make a connection just like your simple foil switch. Cool momentary switch, eh?

3. Alternative: No- Sew Method with Hook Up Wire

Maybe you don't have access to conductive thread? This step will show you how to use everyday office supplies and the materials in your Makey Makey kit to hack a toy. 

The small white wires in your kit are called hook-up wire. These tiny wires are commonly used in electronics and cut to length, then soldered to hold projects in place and ensure conductivity. These wires fit in the back of the board, but you can use them in any project.

If you don't have conductive thread, you can use a hook up wire and poke it through your toy, just like you would use a thread and needle.

Using needle nose pliers, wrap the exposed end of the wire onto the end of a safety pin. The exposed end needs to be attached well to the safety pin so you can extend the conductive area from the wire to the safety pin. (You could also use a binder clip instead of a safety pin.) 

Cover the wire on the back of your toy with some low adhesive masking tape to keep it in place. 

Now, clip an alligator clip to the exposed end of the hook up wire.

Cover the alligator clip as well so it doesn't come loose. 

Repeat in another spot on your toy, and now when those two conductive spots come together, you will complete the circuit. 

4. Code in Scratch

You can use your coding skills from the class "Code Your Key Presses in Scratch" to record and code sound effects, code your toy to be a musical instrument, or code your toy to be a game controller! This step is up to you to design and decide!

See a game example here - Further instructions are in the next step!

5. Going Further: Create a Human Anatomy Learning Toy and Kid- Friendly Alligator Clips with a Clothespin

Sometimes those alligator clips are really difficult to pinch open and closed. Let's make a kid friendly version with a clothespin, so your little brother or sister can easily clip to different conductive spots on your toy. (This clips will function as EARTH so you can have multiple key presses on your toy. )

You need:

• A clothespin
• Foil
• Glue-stick
• Alligator clip

First take the clothespin apart. Just wiggle off the metal spring.

Next cut two strips of foil to fit on the clothespin. Then use a glue-stick to adhere to the surface of each clothespin piece. You need one foil to wrap the entire length of the clothespin and the other side can just cover the front of the clip.

Put your clothespin back together  and attach an alligator clip to the end where the foil wraps around the end. 

Now you are ready to test on your toy. You can create multiple conductive spots, then in Scratch, you can code the descriptions of your toy's anatomy or body system. Your toy may have multiple hearts, or three stomachs (like a cow!) Or, maybe your toy is an animal and you can actually code the real descriptions of the animal's body system.

Try the Scratch game here, by pressing the up arrow, left arrow, or spacebar to learn about our monster's weird and wacky body system!

1. Coding an Alarm System- Momentary Switch

Grab your paper clip push button switch from the first maker class, and let's learn how to code it in Scratch!

You need to code an alarm that will sound when you press the paperclip to the brass fastener. It isn't too difficult, but you will need a quick trick to make sure the alarm only sounds when you complete the circuit! 

GIF from this Scratch Project

To trigger your alarm sound, it's really pretty easy to code. You need an if/else statement nestled into a forever loop that will sound the alarm when the up arrow is pressed. Otherwise, you want the alarm sound to stop. 

Since this code is in s forever-loop that reads from the top down, this is how Scratch is running the code:

• Check to see if up arrow is pressed

• If yes: play sound until it’s done

• Go through the loop again

• If no: (Or if up arrow isn’t pressed anymore) trigger code for else: to stop all sounds

This if/else statement works great for changing costumes, broadcasting messages, etc. However, it is trickier with sound as the code. It will never get to the else statement while the sound is playing, so if you want to stop the sound as soon as key is not pressed, you'll have to add another script.

You need the reporting block "Not" from the Operator Palette. This code will be under a separate "When Flag Clicked" so that it will always be running and checking to see "if the up arrow is not pressed.

• Check to see if up arrow is not pressed

• If it is not pressed, stop all sounds in the project.

Now your code will only be triggered when the circuit is closed. If the two conductive touch points do not touch then the alarm will be silenced!

And that's really all you need to code for your alarm! You might want to add more effects, so check out this coding video walkthrough of using your momentary push button alarm from the first class in this series. Follow along to code your own Scratch project. Then design your own push button alarm! 

Brainstorming and Testing Alarm Systems

Design considerations:

• Your first design consideration is to think about where you want to place your momentary alarm.

• How will you place two conductive items so that some movement triggers your alarm? 

• What items will you use in crafting your alarm system? What items work well?

• How can you ensure the alarm is triggered without bringing the system crashing down? 

In the video below, you can see how you could wire up your momentary push button as a doorbell outside your door.

The example used a phone with an adapter so the Makey Makey could be left behind the door. To transform the doorbell into an alarm, the example used a wire coat hanger, (make sure you sand off coating to expose the metal) hung it above a door, and connected the coat hanger to the "Up arrow" on Makey Makey. On the door,  there is a strip of HVAC tape connected to "EARTH" on the Makey Makey. This alarm is triggered when someone opens the door as the coat hanger closes the circuit when it touches the aluminum foil strip. Also, the coat hanger is held with a binder clip to allow for movement! (Make sure to ask your parents before using any thumbtacks or applying tape to walls or doors in your room! )

An ambassador shared how to make this alarm in his native language, Italian! Godere!

2. Coding an Always-on Alarm System- Non-momentary /Toggle Switch

Now that you've coded a push button alarm, how about coding an alarm that is always set and will blast when someone opens the box that holds your precious goods?

GIF from this Scratch Project

Grab your binder clip switch from the first class in this series and let's learn how to code it really quick! This switch is more like a light switch (which is a toggle switch) It comes on when you flip it, and off when you turn the switch to "off." A light switch works by closing a circuit to turn on the light when you flip the switch one way, and turns it off (opens the circuit) when you flip the switch the other way.

The coding for this project might look similar to the other alarm, but we need to switch things up a bit! (Get it? Switch???)

That's all you need to start a sound by releasing a key press, and stop the sound by pressing the key! 
 

You can use if/else statements to add interesting visuals to go with your alarm. This code will change the background based on a key press (or not.)

You might want to add more effects, so watch this coding video walkthrough of using your non-momentary binder clip switch from the first class in this series. Follow along to code your own Scratch project and view the bonus feature with a real toy box alarm. Then design your own "Always - on alarm." 

Design considerations:

• Your first design consideration is to think about what you want to protect and what container you will use to create your "toy box alarm!"

• How will you place two conductive items so that they are always touching unless someone is trying to access what your alarm is protecting?

• What items will you use in crafting your alarm system? What items will work well and can be secured to a box, lid, etc.?

• How can you ensure the alarm is set and no one can see the wires or Makey Makey?

1. Build a Toilet Tube Tilt Sensor!

Gather materials

Grab your recyclables, foil, a marble, a glue-stick, and your Makey Makey kit, and let's get making!

What you are building?

A sensor is an input device that senses input from the physical world (like water, light, motion, sound) and then signals that information to an output device. Today you are building a tilt sensor as the input device and Scratch cat is going to read that information and perform the output!

The tilt sensor device you are building works by sensing angular movement. When you tilt your tilt sensor to the left, the metal ball inside will connect and complete the circuit and signal to the computer that the device is angled left. When you tilt to the right, the ball makes a different electrical connection and signals that the input device is at a right angle. 

You can replicate a real tilt sensor with simple everyday materials like a toilet tube, foil, and paperclips. The foil inside your tube will be connected to EARTH, and the paperclips will be left and right inputs. Inside the tube, a metal marble will move when you tilt your sensor. When the marble tilts to the right, it will bridge the connection of the right input and EARTH and complete the circuit. This will signal the right arrow of your Makey Makey. When you tilt the tube to the left, the marble will touch the left input and EARTH and signal the left arrow key press.

You can follow along with this video to build your toilet tube tilt sensor or follow the steps below the video. 

How to Build It

Cut a piece of aluminum foil to fit inside your toilet tube and use a glue-stick to make it adhere to the inside of the toilet tube.

Unfold a paperclip to be your right input and use a piece of Duct Tape to hold the paper clip to the tube. Make sure the paper clip DOES NOT touch the foil on the inside of the tube. 

Use a piece of Duct Tape to hold the paperclip onto the sensor. Before you put the paperclip on the right side, you need to add the marble that will make the electrical connections when you tilt the device.

Let's make your marble conductive! Simply wrap a marble in foil and make sure to smooth it onto the marble by rubbing it between your hands.

Place the metal marble inside and make sure it doesn't roll out of the tube. You might have to manipulate your paperclip to keep the marble in. Also, check to see if your marble will connect the paperclip to the foil you placed inside.

Use a second paperclip to be the left input. Unfold and tape the paperclip to the tube. Again, make sure the paperclip does not touch the foil on the inside of the tube. 

Use Duct Tape to secure your paperclip, and now you are ready to clip to Makey Makey and test your tilt sensor device!

2. Testing Your Tilt Sensor

Connect an alligator clip to EARTH and the foil on the inside of your tilt sensor.

Make sure the metal on your clip connects to the foil! (The foil inside your tube must also be one continuous piece of foil for this sensor connection to work!)

Plug an alligator clip from the RIGHT arrow to the right paperclip and another alligator clip from the LEFT arrow to left paperclip.

Now you are ready to plug the red USB from the Makey Makey into your computer and connect your Tilt Sensor with your computer.

If you tilt your sensor to the left, the virtual Makey Makey left arrow should light up, and the virtual tilt sensor will tilt left. Don't forget to hit the green flag to focus your computer's attention to this Scratch project. The Scratch cat won't move yet! You have to code Scratch cat to work with your toilet paper tube tilt sensor.

If your tilt sensor is working the next step is to code Scratch cat to move with your handmade tilt sensor! 

3. Coding Scratch Cat to move with Tilt Sensor

Getting Scratch cat to move with a left tilt and right tilt is actually pretty easy! Click on the cat sprite to code it. To move Scratch cat to the left when the left arrow is pressed, you need to nest this code inside an "if statement."

Open this Scratch Project, then hit REMIX, to code.

This code signals to Scratch cat to point to the left by and move to the left by changing where the sprite is on the x-axis. The x-axis points change the left and right direction of the sprite. To change up and down, you would change the coordinates on the y-axis.

To move left when the left arrow is pressed make sure the variable inside the "change x by" block is a negative number. This will make the cat move to the left. 

To move right when the right arrow is pressed, duplicate this code and have the Scratch cat point in direction 90 and change the location on the x axis by positive 10.

Place both of these if statements into a forever loop so that Scratch will constantly be checking to see if a left arrow or right arrow key is pressed. If Scratch gets a signal the arrow is pressed, then the cat will move accordingly. 

The event to start all of this will be under the "When green flag is clicked" hat. If you want this to be triggered by a different event, you can have this code only work on a certain background, or after a sprite is clicked, etc. 

It's always good to have your sprite know where to start on the screen when the green flag is clicked as well. To start the cat along the x/y axis, place the "go to x: ___ y: ___" block under the "When green flag is clicked."

The variables suggested here will start Scratch cat standing on the black line sprite to the far left of the screen. Try changing these coordinates.

Coordinates measure the distance of this point from the x- axis and y- axis. Where does Scratch cat land if you plot these points:

• (0, 150)
• (0, -150)
• (200, 0)

What coordinates will put Scratch cat in the center? 

4. Coding Raining Tacos!

Let's motivate Scratch cat by coding some raining tacos! 

Click on the taco sprite to code it.  To start at the top of the screen, set the taco on the y-axis with the coordinate: 180. To have the taco fall from this point, change the y-coordinate with a negative number. If you wanted your tacos to float up, what number would you use for changing the y-coordinate?

Once the taco reaches the black line, we want the taco to head back to the top of the screen. To have the taco populate at different spots on the x-coordinate plane, just add the "go to random" block, but make sure you still set the y-coordinate to180. 

Try your code! Does the taco appear at the top and fall to the bottom like rain? Need more taco rain drops? Before you duplicate this code, you need to create a scoring variable and have something happen when the taco sprite touches the cat sprite. 

Create a scoring variable in the variables palette. When the green flag is clicked, you want to set the score to 0. The score will increase if the taco sprite is touching the cat sprite. Find the "touching sprite" reporting block in the sensing palette. 

Add a sound, change the score, and change the xy-coordinates of the taco so that it starts at the top of the screen again.

Need more rain? Right click on the taco sprite to duplicate the sprite. The more taco sprites you create, the more tacos will rain! Change the wait time on taco sprites so they don't all start raining at the same time.

 Full Video for Coding the Scratch Cat and Tacos is available on the Youtube channel and below!

1. Creating a Sequence Project

Want to know how to use order and sequence to trigger special effects in your Scratch projects online? In this guide, you'll learn how to code sequence in secret code projects and how to connect them to drawings or other physical elements in the real world that trigger animations in the digital world!

The process of connecting the physical world to the digital world is known as physical computing! You've been creating some really cool physical computing projects so far, even if you didn't know it! Now you are going to learn how you can further develop the physical aspects of your project by incorporating the secret code extension in Scratch. 

In this class, you'll create a secret code based on a sequence of key presses. For this project, you will focus on coding drawings or a poster, but in the next class, you will learn to use secret codes to build a secret code cardboard invention.

The example project is sharing the life cycle of a butterfly, but you can make your sequence project about anything you want! So start brainstorming what life cycle you want to share in your Scratch project and drawings.

Invention Literacy Vocabulary: 

Physical Computing

Combining the physical world with the digital world. Physical computing takes a hands-on approach to computing. The physical aspect of the project and how a human interacts with the physical components are just as important as the coding and computing side of the project!

Sequence and Algorithm

Sequencing in computing is very important! A computer can only follow the set of instructions you give it. So if you code the wrong steps, your algorithm won't respond correctly. In this project, you'll learn how to code a sequence that triggers a special effect in your Scratch project. 

Sequencing is the specific order in which instructions are performed in an algorithm. In your life cycle project, you will code your drawings to trigger a special effect in Scratch, but only if the user inputs the correct sequence!

2. Drawing Images for Life Cycle

Now that you've chosen (and hopefully researched) a life cycle you want to share in your Scratch project, it's time to draw!

Draw at least four images to represent different stages of the life cycle you've chosen.

You can draw your images in order, but you actually want the player of your game to figure out the right order. In our example, we have the drawings out of order as a way to test the player!  

If you have a 6B pencil, use it to draw your images. The higher the number on a pencil, the more graphite the pencil lays down when drawing. 

If you don't have a 6B pencil, you can still use other pencils, just remember to make very thick and dark marks so there is a lot of graphite (pencil lead) on the paper. The thicker, the better! You also need a lot of pencil lead for the alligator to clip to grip.

If you need more help with your drawings, revisit this class on drawing musical circuits.

3. Coding Basic Inputs for Drawings

The coding for each keypress is similar to previous projects. If you want to add some sound to your project, check out the "Text to Speech" extension in Scratch. 

This block allows you to type what you want your character to say, and you can even change the languages! 

Set the voice, language, and then explain each life cycle on the key press that goes with the drawing you created. 

Download and print a pdf of "Coding a Makey Makey Life Cycle Project" for students

Basic Code

Code each arrow key to display a sprite when pressed and speak the step of the life cycle. (Record audio or use text to speech extension.)

Code for Sequence

The second hat block in the Makey Makey extension is a sequence block. Using this code, the sprite will only show after the keys are pressed in sequence. 

To trigger this butterfly to show, press up, right, down, then left and the butterfly will appear!

You can add animations and code movement. (Viewing tip: Right click to open the image in a new tab to get a close up read of the Scratch code blocks!)

4. Use the Secret Code Extension to Trigger Animation

Now that you have the basic project done, let's use the idea of sequence to trigger a special effect. 

Remember that sequencing is the specific order in which instructions are performed in an algorithm. In order for your player to trigger the secret code block, they will have to touch the images in the correct order. 

The secret code hat will set the sequence. Any blocks you place under this hat will only be triggered when the player presses the keys in the correct order.

When the keys "up right down left" are pressed in order,  what do you want to happen?

In the example project, the secret code hat was used to broadcast a message to make the butterfly fly. By using random variables for x and y, the butterfly can be coded to flutter.

Sequence/ Algorithm

The player has to touch the drawings in order to trigger the animation in Scratch:

• • Up Arrow connected to the Egg Drawing
  • Right Arrow connected to the Caterpillar
  • Down Arrow Connected to Pupa/Chrysalis Drawing
  • Left Arrow Connected to the Butterfly Drawing

(See a Scratch Project here.)

5. Going Further with Inventions - Creating Life Cycle Posters

Remember the class on crafting and coding interactive stories? How can you use the interactive poster idea to recreate your life cycle project into something even more physical and three dimensional? Can you use a poster to make an intriguing sequence project? Can you create logic puzzles on paper for your friends to puzzle out and solve mysteries coded in a Scratch project? Here are some everyday office supplies you can use to make a secret code interactive poster! 

Remember these important vocabulary terms around inventing! Prototype a few different ideas and share your iterations with friends to improve your design ideas!

Invention Literacy Vocabulary: 

Prototyping is the first step to inventing. A prototype is an early or beginning model of an idea (generally an invention.) Inventors prototype ideas to test the concept of their inventions. If a prototype is still buggy or doesn't work right, an inventor will create another version of their idea.

Iteration is the next step of prototyping. An inventor will continue to draft and rework their ideas by making more versions or iterations of a design idea. Once you start inventing, you'll want to make multiple versions of your idea to make sure you have a successful prototype or invention idea!

1. Crafting a Secret Code Invention

Let's build a secret code machine! You can make your cardboard invention look however you would like. The example cardboard machine mimics an old school typewriter. (Have you ever seen one?)

To get started, grab some cardboard, some heavy duty scissors, paperclips, and brass fasteners. 

Maker Tip: Sometimes you might prefer coding your project and then making it. If that's you, skip down to the coding step and come back to this step after you've written your code.

Here are three cardboard techniques!

• Scoring cardboard to make angles
• Creating curves with cardboard
• Using binder clips and hot glue to add support

Scoring Cardboard

To score cardboard, use scissors or a handy tool like this Canary Cardboard Cutter. Make sure to cut only halfway through the cardboard. Then you can fold and create great angles with your cardboard!

Curving Cardboard

Create a smooth bend in your cardboard by bending it on the back of a chair. Press over chair and ease your cardboard into a nice curvy shape.

Using Binder Clips to Hold Shapes

You can form your cardboard and either hot glue shapes together or use binder clips to hold shapes in place. After you use hot glue on cardboard, binder clips are a great way to temporarily hold pieces together until the glue dries. 

Pro Tip: If you don't want to use hot glue, Tacky Glue is a great glue for holding cardboard together!

Check out this Full Video of Cardboard Build 

2. Coding Musical Notes

There is a space ship already built for this project. Head to Scratch and click "Remix" to code this space synth! You will see a virtual Makey Makey and costumes for your synth. You can always start from Scratch if you want though! (Get it? Start from Scratch?)

Click on this link and click "Remix" to code this project. 

Note: You need to be signed in to Scratch see the "Remix" button.

The virtual Makey Makey is already coded for key press inputs and the Scratch cat is programmed to move on key presses too. All you need to do is code the music and the secret code for the synth sprite!

 Click on the Synth Sprite to code the music notes. 

On the project, the Makey Makey Extension and the Music extension have been added. When you use the music extension you have access to all 88 keys of the piano and some fun instruments. Pick an instrument and have it set "when the green flag is clicked." Then, code each keypress to play a note. We used:

• Left Arrow: Play note 60
• Space: Play note 67
• Right Arrow: Play note 72
• Up Arrow: Play note 74
• Down Arrow: Play note 76

3. Coding a Costume Change

Now that you have the music notes coded, code the synth sprite so the costume changes for each key press!

Make sure to match the key press with the correct color costume. Scratch cat is already coded to move to the correct color block when the arrow keys or spacebar is pressed. 

4. Creating a Variable and Setting Your Sequence

In the last class, you learned how to use the "secret code" hat. Now you are going to create a variable so you can create your own sequence for your secret code.

Now use the "Set variable to" block and type in the sequence of key presses you would like to use.  You can find your own song to code or use, or sequence to play the song from "Close Encounters." (It's a cool old movie about communicating with aliens through music tones.)

Once you've set your sequence, you can drag the variable into the Makey Makey secret code extension and use it to broadcast to other sprites, or just set the code you would like to happen once the sequence is pressed in order.

This "Close Encounter" variable was used to broadcast a message to the Giga sprite. Once you've set the sequence for "Close Encounter" you can use it to trigger Giga to appear with when the sequence is played in the correct order. 

5. Using your Sequence to Trigger Special Effects

Once you set your sequence, you can use it to trigger all types of special effects. Here is the how Giga was coded to react to the correct sequence.

Now that you know how to create your own sequence, what special effects will you code?

6. Putting it All Together

Now that your secret code machine is built and you've created your code, it is time to put it all together!

Connect Makey Makey inputs to the brass fasteners on your cardboard invention, plug in the red USB, and share your project!

Create a color coded sheet music example so your player knows the secret code. (The Makey Makey hookup is included in this crafting cardboard video.) Click below to start hooking up your invention.

Troubleshooting Tips: When you use the Secret Code hat, test your code with the keyboard to make sure the code is working. 

If the sequence isn't working make sure you have exactly one space between the key names in the variable value. 

Once it works on the keyboard, it is time to test your invention. Notice that when you hook up your invention, your conductive inputs might be more sensitive than a computer keyboard. That's why paperclips and simple drawings were used for these projects. A pressure sensitive switch tends to send more than one key press signal to the computer. 

1. Craft This: Coordinate Plane Touchpad for Pixel Art Finger Paint

So far in this maker series, you've crafted switches out of office supplies, hacked a favorite toy, designed your own alarm systems, created tilt sensors, and even created your own secret code invention!

In today's project, you are going to really delve into a project that is equally physical and digital.

First up, you have to craft this coordinate plane.

You need to cut a flat piece of cardboard into about a perfect square that is at least ten to twelve inches in length. 

Measure half the height and draw a horizontal line for the x-axis. Then, measure half the width and draw a vertical line for the y-axis.

Measure 1/2 inch or 1 centimeter increments along both the x and y-axis. Instead of labeling those increments from 1-20, label in increments of 20 to scale with the coordinates you will plot in Scratch in step three.

To make a simple triangle, plot these points on your physical coordinate plane:

• (80,0)
• (-80,0)
• (0, 200)

In the next step, you will mark more points and add conductive touch points with to each plot point with brass fasteners.

2. Plot These Points 

On your cardboard coordinate plane, plot the points from this chart and place a brass fastener in each spot to turn this into a conductive touchpad. (tip: Use a dull pencil to start the hole, and then press the brass fastener through.) These are your conductive touch points for your pixel art finger paint.

Plug an alligator clip from each spot to the appropriate input on your Makey Makey.

Check this chart for inputs and make sure to label all plot points and key inputs on your physical coordinate plane. This will help you in hooking up to Makey Makey, coding and troubleshooting!

As you mark each spot, start noticing different shapes you can create. You might want to use a rubber band around your brass fasteners to help visualize different shapes. 

3. Hook up Makey Makey

Now that you've crafted your cardboard coordinate plane and added all your conductive touch points, it is time to hook up your invention to Makey Makey! Follow the chart (and your labels) to hook up each conductive touch point to the appropriate Makey Makey inputs.

Refer to the chart often!

You are using the back of the board for this project. You should have small white jumper wires in your classic kit. If you have a STEM kit, you will have a ribbon cable where all the jumper wires are connected. Gently push each jumper wire into the header on the back of the board. You will see that the header on the left side is for the key presses W A S D F G. If you need a full guide just on using the back of your Makey Makey, check out this resource. 

Since the example used the colorful ribbon cables, the alligator clips are color coded from each jumper wire to the conductive touch point. This is helpful if you have wires come unplugged or short circuits. It will be easier to troubleshoot.

Since metal is conductive, the heads on these alligator clips are very close together. To keep them from touching, cover the conductive end with electrical tape (or you could use low adhesive masking tape to cover alligator clip heads.)

Let's do a little wire maintenance before you start coding! Binder clips make great switches, but you can also use them to tidy up your wires

4. Code This: Pixel Art Finger Paint

Check out this Scratch video tutorial for coding your own pixel art finger paint!

Click on this Scratch game to remix and code your own project!

Note: You need to be signed in to Scratch see the "Remix" button.

The virtual Makey Makey is already coded for key press inputs and the pen and Makey Makey extension are already added. You will just need to code the Scratch cat to move to the correct plot points for each key press. (Double check your chart or try each touch point as you code it!) 

You can adjust pen settings, and you could even add more inputs to code a color palette or code a "clear all." The choice is yours to make!

1. Intro to Design Thinking and Tactile Math Literacy Challenge

Instead of following a project guide in this final maker class, you will be challenged to create your own invention for someone else. In this class, you will use the design cycle to invent your own tactile math or literacy game for a younger user. This user can be a younger grade level student at your school or a younger sibling, cousin, etc!  

Here is a adapted overview of the design cycle.

When thinking about a specific problem you want to solve, the first step is to empathize with the user as a way to help you define the problem you are solving.

You’ll find that as you move through these steps, you’ll come back to brainstorming often! That’s because the design cycle doesn’t have to flow in sequence order. Feel free to come back to these steps at different times.

To get started, let’s dig into the challenge. 

How might we design a tactile math or literacy game for a younger player?

First off, let’s look at what a math or literacy game can look like! Here are some examples other students made of math and literacy games. These 5th grade students were challenged to use the design cycle to create games for kindergarteners. 

2. Empathize/Define/ Ideate

You may not have an idea yet, and that is okay! It is best to start with the empathize step by learning more about the user for whom you are designing the game. You'll want to interview  the user, or a teacher or parent to help you with your questions! Talking to an expert about a design idea is a real step in the design process!

• Who is your user? 
• How old are they? 
• What are they learning in math or what types of games could help them improve their reading or writing skills? 
• How does their current teacher help them with math or literacy skills?

Write 3 questions to ask your expert regarding designing a game for the age of your player.

Also, start making a list of materials needed.

Once you’ve interviewed an expert, take your data as a way to define the problem you are solving. For instance, if you learn that a kindergarten student is only looking at number recognition, you will know that your game can not be a multiplication game.

Take some time to ideate (or brainstorm ideas) for your project. Start planning and designing your game on paper. You can storyboard your game idea, or just make drawings to help visualize your project. 

Define The Problem and Your Idea

• What is your idea for a game for your user?
• What materials will you need?
• How will you combine Scratch and Makey Makey? 

3. Prototype/ Test/ Reiterate

Storyboard your Project

Gather your notes and storyboard your project idea. Use this template to sketch your ideas and take notes. When you are ready to code, you can add your coding ideas on this same storyboard template.

Craft This: Make a list of materials you need and get started prototyping your tactile math or literacy game. Spend some time thinking about materials that will entice the younger child to play! You might notice in the inspiration video that our students used pipe cleaners and cotton balls as part of their project because they knew that little kids liked to tinker and play with sensory materials!

Code This: What Scratch elements will you use in your game?

Check out this list of “Foundational Scratch Blocks” as a way to think about animations, etc to really make your tactile game feel like a real product!

A lot of the students in the example coded math animations, words and letter animations, and more. 

Foundational Code Tools  

Coding Movement: Moving left/right with Forever Loops

This will get your character to move left and right in the most consistent way. You can also use a “when (direction) clicked” hat.

The forever loop will keep the “if” statements active for the entire game.

You can also code movement with the Makey Makey extension hats.

Coding Movement: Go to x: __ y: ____

Start a sprite in a specific spot. You can drag the sprite where you want it to get the x y coordinates where you want them.

Coding Looks: Changing Costumes

You can change costumes when a Makey Makey input is pressed (when your player touches a letter or number.) You can also use this with the “movement” code blocks.

Coding Looks: Changing Size

You can shrink or grow a character with this one. 

Coding Looks: Hide/show

Have your sprite hide until you need them to show up. This is a great way to do levels or animations.

Coding Jumping: Repeat, change y, and wait

This is the most effective way to jump and still be able to move left and right.

Coding Sensing: Sensing another sprite

Touching the "hedgehog" sprite puts Scratch cat back at the start. If you can’t find the “touching a character” code, you might be on the backdrop instead of a character’s code.

Coding Sensing: Adding levels with “when backdrop switches”

You can create levels with new backdrops. Just make sure the sprites you want to use are activated with the right backdrop and hidden on all other backdrops.

Coding Variables: Adding a Score 

Remember to set score to 0. You can trigger this at a level change or at the start.

Coding Control: Broadcast

This can be used to change levels or broadcast characters to appear or speak.

When the Scratch cat receives this message, it jumps for joy!

4. Hooking up Makey Makey

Since you are creating games specifically for math and literacy, you may want to remap your Makey Makey to certain letters and numbers. Here is a guide to help you if you decide to remap your Makey Makey and a planning sheet you can print out. 

Download this worksheet here

5. User Testing/ Debugging

Once your project is built and coded, it’s time to test it with real users. Set up your tactile game and if you can, have different users test it! If they find bugs in your code, or don’t understand how to play, then you will need to spend some time reiterating your design!

Reiterating is similar to writing different drafts of a paper. It means you need to look at your project again and find ways to improve it. You might spend a lot of time here brainstorming and ideating again!

6. Sharing Projects Arcade Style

After debugging, it is time to “publish” your project! You can set it up arcade style maybe even set up some of your other projects from the previous classes and share with the younger user. Remember to play and have fun!