IoT, Makey Makey & Claude
Before we build anything, let's understand three ideas that make the whole workshop work.
What is the Internet of Things?
The Internet of Things (IoT) is just everyday objects that can talk to computers. You already use them every day.
Knows when you tilt or tap it.
Counts your steps and heartbeats.
Turn on when you walk in.
Turns your moves into the game.
Every IoT gadget follows the same loop:
Real world (you touch / move)
→ Signal (a little message)
→ Computer (reads the message)
→ It acts (sound, light, game)
Keep it concrete. You do not need to know what a "sensor" or "protocol" is. The loop above is the whole idea — and we are about to build the simplest possible version of it, three times.
Meet Makey Makey — and its secret
A Makey Makey is a little board that turns a banana, some foil, playdough, or even your hand into a button.
Its secret: it pretends to be your keyboard.
So any app that works with keys already works with bananas. That means we can build our toys and play them today with just the keyboard — no board needed yet.
Makey Makey key map
| Keyboard key | Makey Makey pad |
|---|---|
| Space | Front: Space pad |
| ↑ ↓ ← → | Front: arrow pads |
| W A S D F G | Back of the board |
This "it is just a keyboard" idea is the one thing you must remember. Touching a banana is the same as pressing the Space bar. Because of that secret, we do not need the hardware to start — and nothing in the code has to change when you add the board later.
Meet Claude, our AI builder
You do not need to know how to code. You ask Claude what you want, in plain English, and it writes the app for you.
Open claude.ai and sign in for free. Nothing to install — great on school laptops.
As Claude writes, your app appears in a preview panel beside the chat. That panel is called an Artifact — click it and play straight away.
Open claude.ai
Go to claude.ai and sign in. The free plan is enough.
Type a prompt
Describe the toy you want in plain English — we will give you the exact words in the next sections.
Play in the Artifact
When Claude finishes, click the Artifact preview and play with your keyboard.
Ready to build? Head to Build 1: Banana Piano.