I'm a high school physics teacher, so I bought one of these for our chapter on electricity and electronics. My students never enjoyed anything as much as they enjoyed the makey makey. We made a graphite controller for pac man like they show in the video. Very fun and very educational.

The kids in class would always be trying to come up with different things we could do with it, and it turns out that the cheese sticks they get at lunch make a perfect material to connect it to! One of the kids in class who can play the piano played it using the cheese sticks and we made a video that we used to promote our science demonstration show. It was a huge hit.

We also went to the elementary school and did a few activities with it. Imagine hooking a a group of 2nd graders up to this and making them the keys for the piano. Just have one kid hold the ground and they can touch the other kids on the hand to play the piano. It blows their mind and they go crazy about it and want to learn how it works.

What you can do with this is only limited by your imagination.

When I first saw the announcement video for this product, I brushed the Makey Makey off as gimmicky and toyish. But having used it for about a month, I have to admit that this kit is far more impressive than I expected. The setup between the Makey Makey and your computer is quick and straightforward, but the real creativity and challenge comes from figuring it out how to use it for pretty much anything that can be run on your computer. I can easily spend a few hours messing around with the various configurations on this device to get it to work perfectly with whatever I have it hooked up to and all of those hours will be spent with my mind working at full speed and a huge grin on my face.

Really, the only gripe I have with this kit is that the device's cable limits the freedom of movement and range you have on it. But there's really no way around that unless you buy a Bluetooth adapter of sorts. For now, keep your inventions close to your computer and you should have no problems.

If you're interested in tinkering around with computer devices, don't hesitate to pick this up. It's an awesome tool that's disguised as a toy.

I currently teach Integrated Technology K-5 and purchased this for an enrichment activity in my Tech Club. The first time I used it I had to launch several projects at the same time, so the students who signed up to use these were simply handed the unopened box and requested to read the directions and look around at the various parts until I could get back to their group to get them started. Without any instruction other than that, but the time I returned to them they had independently hooked up various objects to it and was using it like a piano. The students were in 4th and 5th grade. Very easy to use, and with guidance this could be used in a 1st grade setting. There are some projects already outlined in the instructions/available on their website making it very simple to get started. Of course, it is also a device that is very open ended and may be used in more creative ways by students as well. Highly recommend!

I had several of the Makey Makey kits for the students in my classroom a few years back. At that time, the students were able to access free programs that would work with Makey Makey. However, when I recently bought it for my grandson, I was unable to locate some of the free programs I had used with my students. There were many to purchase though.
It is easy to use, once you read through all the directions, and there is also a few videos on the product website, and on YouTube. I highly recommend you watch those as well before using the product.
My grandson, who just turned right, did have a lot of fun with it, and was running all over my house to find things he could use to complete the circuit. We used bananas, cherries, coins, clothes pins, and several other items. It is still a good product, and really brings out the curiosity in children. It is also a good product for the requirements of STEM.

My sons love it