NOTE: This lesson plan is intended for use by teachers as a way to challenge your students to make their own game controller.

If you aren't already familiar with Scratch, take a look at the Getting Started guide and play around with the platform.

If you aren't already familiar with Makey Makey, take a look at the How To guide and play around with the Makey Makey.

Find a program on the apps page or create a project on Scratch!

Set up your Makey Makey and connect it to some objects!

Get a feel for mixing materials, a Makey Makey, and a Scratch program.

Set up computers and various conductive and non-conductive materials for your students to experiment with.

Create a storyboard for a game you'd like to create in Scratch.

Make a sketch of the controller you want to make to go along with your game.

Don't worry if your students aren't ready to make a sketch of their controller yet. It can change as they develop their game.

Code your game in Scratch!

Note: Your students may prefer to create the game and the controller simultaneously or separately- all that matters is that the concepts are held together with a common theme.

While your students work, demo some of the ways a Makey Makey can control a game. Create a graphite drawing controlling a Scratch Piano or make a Playdoh sculpture that resembles Tetris. Be imaginative and show the kids that adults can tinker too!

Build a specialized controller for your game.

Bring in boxes and boxes of scrap and junk for students to tinker with. See if you can get some old electronics donated. Let students take things apart and use the old electronics for their game controllers. Also, give them a project shelf to store creations over the course of the design challenge.

Share your project with another class or a guest.

Find an expert like another class who has completed the challenge, or a group in a makerspace with Makey Makey experience to conference with. Ask them to chat with your students. Let your students share ideas about their creations and gather feedback from the experts. This chat should help instill creative confidence in your young makers.

Create a gallery-like atmosphere in your class and have students set up their games and controllers.

Walk around and play everyone else's games. Write an "I think" or "I wonder" statement about each game you try.

• Have students set up games and controllers in a gallery setting like the library.
• Give them clipboards and feedback sheets and allow them to try each other's controllers games and list some "I think" and "I wonder" statements about each game they try.
• Allow students to read feedback and improve controllers as necessary.

Once games and controllers are finished, invite the community to your Makey Makey Maker faire!

If you can, share your student products on social media and have them launch another classroom's Makey Makey Game Controller Challenge!

Lesson based on our #MakeyMakeyChallenge with Diana Rendina.