MaKey MaKey Money Lesson

Today  ITRT, Mrs. Robinson, and I spent some time in a 2nd grade classroom using our new MaKey MaKeys for a lesson on counting coins. A MaKey MaKey is an invention kit for the 21st century. It allows you to turn everyday objects into touchpads and combine them with the internet. If you aren’t familiar with what exactly a MaKey MaKey is check out this short video.  

 After introducing the students to the parts and pieces of the MaKey MaKey we broke the students into smaller groups and worked together to assemble their contraptions. They had to attach a REAL penny, nickel, dime and quarter to the MaKey MaKey wires!

 

Students plugged their MaKey MaKey into a laptop and pulled up a Scratch program that our boss, Jon Wirsing, created:

 

When students tapped a certain coin, the cash register on the Scratch program calculated the value of the coin. As students continued to tap the coins, the cash register’s total continued to increase. We challenged them to make the cash register amount match the amount we wrote on the board all while using the least amount of coins (taps) possible. After students gained insight about programming, we jumped onto Code.org to get them practicing! We only had four MaKey MaKeys to work with today and I sure wish we had more!