Scratch Day Physical World Activity

Makey Makey Music

By Saskia Leggett

Scratch Day’s festive atmosphere presents a great opportunity to connect Scratch with the bright colors, fun sounds, and curious objects of the physical world. By pairing Scratch with the Makey Makey, a separate piece of hardware that can be purchased online, participants can use any conductive object — like a banana, a spoon, or another person — to make music in Scratch.

Here are steps to start planning:

1. Start by gathering your materials. You’ll need conductive objects like fruit, Play-Doh, and metal household objects, and also a set of Makey Makeys. We find that this activity works best when the conductive objects are placed on a separate table. (Insider tip: Want to make something conductive? Wrap it in aluminum foil!)
2. Arrange the materials in your space, including a set of Makey Makeys at each table. It’s helpful to include a printout of short instructions, including a set-up diagram, like this one or this one, and a link to the Makey Makey tutorial (scratch.mit.edu/makeydrum).
3. If time permits, you can introduce the activity by showing the Makey Makey video, and show how to plug the device into a laptop. (People often get confused with the “ground” cable; it’s helpful to explicitly point this step out as part of completing the circuit.) It’s also fun to show that you can use people as conductive objects, too!
4. Encourage participants to follow the tutorial or experiment on their own. They can gather materials to use from the separate table and return materials that they decide to not use.
5. While participants are creating, facilitators can walk around and suggest ways to extend the projects, other materials to use, or other sounds to experiment with.
6. When participants have finished their creations, they can share out their work with a gallery walk: if space permits, ask participants to stand and gather around an individual project while the creator shows their work. Move from project to project, similar to moving through a gallery or a museum.

Adapt it: For larger groups, you can encourage participants to work in pairs (including parents and children) or small groups to create their projects. Participants can switch roles as they create: while one person works on arranging or crafting the physical world materials, the other person can work on refining the code in Scratch.

Remix it: What other sounds can you make? Participants can make drum machines, guitar sounds, or even create a whole band together!

For other detailed activity ideas, check out the post How do you design Scratch Day activities?

Saskia Leggett is Outreach Manager for the Scratch Team.