Electronic Windchimes, Physical Minecraft and 8 Other Slick MaKey MaKey Projects

Banana piano. Play-Doh game controller. Pencil and paper keyboard. We first saw the incredible projects that the versatile and easy-to-use MaKey MaKey board made possible at Bay Area Maker Faire in 2012, where creators Jay Silver and Eric Rosenbaum of MIT delighted the crowd and took home an editor’s pick. Shortly after that, it blasted to Kickstarter success with more than $500,000 in funding.

Since then, the diminutive, Arduino-compatible board has been released to the world and has quickly become one of our favorite products. It’s the perfect tool to inspire kids and adults alike, and has been used for an incredible array of creations. Here are ten of the our favorites, from incredible music instruments to a target range to a banana-controlled drone.

You can get MaKey MaKey in the Maker Shed — it makes a fantastic holiday present.

Nerf Blaster Auto-Scoring Shooting Range

Various dangling targets connect to complete a circuit and add points to your score. Uses a simple macro in Microsoft Excel to add and display the point total.