Monster Project Using Makey Makeys and Scratch

This project takes the Monster Project enhancing it with interactivity created through using Scratch and Makey Makeys. It was inspired by the Makey Makey Hack a Toy Lesson. Part of the lesson included the 5th graders interviewing 1st graders. This Edutopia article discussed the benefits of interviewing – Learning to Interview Builds a Range of Communication Skills .

Standards Addressed

Common Core State Standards – ELA

• Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, orissue under study.

National Core Arts Standards

• Students will generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.

CSTA Standards

• Decompose (break down) problems into smaller, manageable subproblems to facilitate the program development process.
• Modify, remix, or incorporate portions of an existing program into one’s own work, to develop something new or add more advanced features.

ISTE Standards for Students

• Students create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources into new creations.
• Students publish or present content that customizes the message and medium for their intended audiences.

Making the Monsters

A 1st grade teacher was asked to have her student draw monsters.

Interviewing the 1st Graders

The interview questions were developed by the SAGE students first by brainstorming ideas on the Promethean board, and second sharing them on a Google Doc so they each had a copy:

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Interviews

The SAGE 5th graders interviewed the 1st graders about their Monsters using Vocaroo. It produces a MP3 file which is compatible with Scratch. This file is downloaded.

Preparing the Files in Scratch

The SAGE students then uploads their MP3 files into Scratch where it is edited into clips of sounds. This link gives some details how to do so https://helpkidscreate.com/adding-audio-to-scratch/.

Preparing the Plushy

The SAGE students created larger versions of the 1st graders’ drawn monsters through using felt pieces for the base and the features of the drawing, adding a back, sewing it today with yarn, and stuffing it.

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After the 5th graders made the plushies, they prepared them to be connected to the Makey Makey by taping in conductive tape and sewing in conductive thread as described in https://makeymakey.com/blogs/how-to-instructions/maker-class-lesson-two-hack-a-toy

Extra – Blabberize It

As an extra project and to enable younger students to get more involved with the technology, they can Blabberize their monsters.

http://blabberize.com/view/id/2159218

Lip Syncing Characters Using micro:bits and Hummingbirds

I am quite fond of facilitating physical computing activities with my learners as I’ve discussed in Scratch and Makey Makey Across the Curriculum . For that post I created the following graphic to represent the benefits of physical computing. I think it is important to extend the use of coding microcontrollers into making physical objects for the following reasons:

Lip Syncing Characters with a micro:bit and a Servo

I was excited to find Cecilia Hillway‘s (she’s so very talented!) Lip-Syncing Characters With Micro:bit – https://www.instructables.com/Lip-Syncing-Characters-With-Microbit/. Here is her video overview of her processes:

. . . and here are some examples of what my students did over the school year and what Cecilia’s kids did this summer:

Sound on 😉
First projects from my Lip-Syncing Summer Camp class. I can’t wait to see what they come up with next!@birdbraintech #hummingbirdbit #microbit @bainbridgebarn pic.twitter.com/TAod3FZEso

— Cecilia Hillway (@ceciliahillway) July 13, 2022

Cecilia’s provided a Makecode graphic for the project:

I recreated this Makecode – https://makecode.microbit.org/_aRfexJ44aEpk

Lip Syncing Characters with a Hummingbird

A Hummingbird by Birdbrain is a kit of lights, sensors, and motors which allows students to create personally meaningful robots out of any materials. As part of her Instructables, Cecilia described her use of Hummingbird to add more features to the Lip Syncing Characters. It was a bit complicated for me so I used the kit to add a second servo to have her arm move and a flashing light to highlight my character’s name.

With the help of the folks from Codejoy, a Makecode was created for this project.

Here is the makecode – https://makecode.microbit.org/_1Ex1vYcqbF0r