We’ve been dreaming up something big behind the scenes…and today, we’re stoked to finally share it with you.

Say “hello” to Makey Makey Invention Launchpads – a brand-new line of hands-on creativity kits that blend DIY projects with applied STE(A)M learning. These kits are all about sparking your invention inspiration and getting those ideas flowing! What starts as a hands-on, guided project – building an arcade-style game controller or a musical instrument out of everyday materials – becomes a gateway to new ideas, bold experimentation, and creative exploration without limits.

If you’re reading this, you probably already know something about Makey Makey and our twelve-year legacy of classroom-tested, playful approaches to STE(A)M learning. (Almost guaranteed, your kids know about it.) Now the Makey Makey Invention Launchpad series brings that DIY STE(A)M spirit home!

Each Invention Launchpad comes with everything you need to build a cool functional invention with your Makey Makey board (sold separately or in a Starter Bundle with the kit), plus step-by-step build instructions, and access to a unique online app developed just for that kit.

And today, we’re kicking off the Invention Launchpad series with our first two releases…

Retro Joystick Invention Launchpad

Back in the office, we started crafting our own game controllers out of cardboard Makey Makey boxes years ago. And this Invention Launchpad is designed for kids like us who don’t just want to play the video games; they want to make the games (and the game controllers)!

This hands-on kit guides you through building your own fully functional, arcade-style Retro Joystick using everyday materials and a Makey Makey. Once assembled, plug it into Selfie Arcade – our exclusive online gaming platform that lets you drop your own selfies, textures, or other captured images directly into the games.

With the Retro Joystick Invention Launchpad, you’ll get a hands-on intro to simple circuits, digital inputs and outputs, and game design, but the creative fun doesn’t end when the build is completed. Now you’ve got the tools and the confidence to reinvent your joystick – mod it, hack it, personalize it, add more actions and more buttons, build your next game controller out of a foil-lined box and play with your friends to see whose controller wins the game – or whose just makes game play more fun!

Keytar Invention Launchpad

Perfect for the musically inclined maker, the future rockstar, or the precocious performer in the house, with this kit you’ll transform cardboard and simple circuits into a playable 6-key keytar.

After you’ve built the Keytar, connect it to our exclusive online app and jam out like the DIY rockstar that you are!

Assembling it was just the beginning! Like all Invention Launchpads, your Keytar is designed to be reinvented. Rebuild it using different materials, remix the design, add a foot pedal for funky sound effects, lay down a drum beat, and explore all kinds of creative performance hacks.

Invention Starts Here!

All Invention Launchpad kits follow our simple (and wildly fun) invention pathway:

Build it. Follow the step-by-step guide to complete your first confidence-building prototype.
Play it. Connect to each kit’s unique online app and be inspired. It really works!
Reinvent it. Now it’s your invention! Hack it! Mod it! Make it your own!

An Invention Launchpad is more than just an assembly kit – it’s your first mission on a lifelong journey of creative exploration.

An Inspired Gift for Aspiring Inventors Everywhere

We’re just getting started with the Makey Makey Invention Launchpad series, and we can’t wait to introduce even more of these creativity kits.

Right now – while our limited supplies last – the first two Invention Launchpads make perfect holiday gifts for curious kids who love to tinker, build, create, invent, perform, and imagine BIG.

Whether you’re a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or supportive family friend…give them the gift that will inspire them to see the world as a construction kit and find invention potential everywhere.

Check out the Retro Joystick and Keytar Invention Launchpads and unleash their inner inventor!