Be the life of the party with the new Makey Makey DIY Party Pack!

Makey Makey and micro:bit Power Glove

Create a gesture-controlled wearable with an old glove, Makey Makey, micro:bit and Scratch! 

Gather Supplies and Prepare Controllers

Grab your Inventor Booster Kit or conductive tape, rifle through your winter clothes to find a mismatched glove and give it a new purpose!  Let's prepare your microcontrollers!

Prepare micro:bit to use with Scratch

Connect micro:bit to Scratch (Follow directions here)

  1. Download Scratch Link
  2. Download Scratch micro:bit Hex File to your micro:bit
  3. Add Makey Makey and micro:bit extensions to your new Scratch project.

In the editor, click on the "Add Extensions" button on the lower left.

Make sure to connect your micro:bit. If you see this orange exclamation point in the corner, it means your micro:bit is not connected.

Baste micro:bit to Glove

Make sure micro:bit is unplugged from the battery. Using some regular thread, baste (which means loosely stitch) micro:bit to the glove. You can use the holes along the edge connector to sew through your micro:bit and stitch across the controller to hold it onto the glove. When you are done, tie a knot and cut the thread. 

 


Plug in Battery and Test with Scratch

Now that micro:bit is securely fastened to the glove, plug in the battery and tuck the battery pack into your glove. Create your code on Scratch and test your glove!

Try a quick code to make sure it is connecting well with Scratch.

 

 

Make Conductive Fingertips with Conductive Fabric Tape

To connect your Makey Makey, use conductive fabric tape to create an EARTH strip along the base of the glove. Then place a separate piece of conductive tape on each finger tip. At the knuckle side of the glove, you can fold the tape onto itself to create a clippable spot for each alligator clip.

Connect Makey Makey

Connect an alligator clip to each knuckle! We used a rubber band to keep all of the alligator clips in place. Clip EARTH to the strip on the heal of the glove.

     

     

    Code and Play!

    Now that  you are all wired up, code your glove and have fun! Our Scratch code changes the background to a random when you tilt the micro:bit AND press the down arrow. This also plays with the Scratch Theramin code from this micro:bit tutorial.  (See our full Scratch project here.)

       

       

      Time Investment
      1 hr
      Grades:
      5-8 

      Supplies

      Welcome

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