Institute of Imagination Core activity
Core activity

Makey Makey Sound

Tin foil caterpillars on cardboard, wired to a Makey Makey behind it. Touch one and it plays.

 
Type
 
Duration
mains
Power
a socket, and an extension lead to it
1
Deliveries
5 August 2026, the first

What it is

A child touches a strip of foil stuck to the front of the cardboard and completes a circuit. The board reads it, the computer plays the note.

It runs inside another activity rather than as a station of its own. At Meath Gardens it is the sound element of the sensory wall. It is held here because it has its own kit, its own power requirement and its own safety case, and none of those belong to cardboard.

Muireann owns it, and was testing it on 3 August 2026.

Steps

  1. Find the socket before anything is built. The rest of the structure sits around wherever it lands, so this is the first line of the setup and not a detail.
  2. The board goes behind, the foil goes in front. Children touch the foil. Nobody handles the board, the leads or the computer.
  3. Tape the extension down along its length, against a wall, not across a doorway or a tunnel entry.

Materials

Sound
Makey Makeyalligator clipscopper tapetin foilconductive doughpompomspipe cleanersBluetooth speakercomputer or tabletextension lead

Quantities are in materials.csv beside this record. The group column there is what an event's packing list is built from.

Safety

HazardWho it reachesWhat we do
Mains electricity Everyone in the room Socket, lead, board and computer behind the wall, out of reach. An adult with them whenever the activity is running.
Trailing extension lead Everyone, including under-5s at floor level Against a wall, taped down along its length. Never across a doorway or a tunnel entry.
Leads and alligator clips as small parts Under-5s Behind the wall with the board. Never on the activity table.
Conductive dough, eaten Under-5s It conducts because it is heavily salted, and it looks like something to eat. An adult stays at it whenever it is out.
The board runs at USB voltage, and a child touching foil is completing a low-voltage circuit by design. The risk here is the mains lead that powers the computer, not the board.