Say Cheese Photo Booth With MaKey MaKey

Say "cheese!" Add some flavor to your event's photo booth with….some actual cheese! Use a MaKey MaKey to turn a piece of cheese into a controller, then snap away!

MaKey MaKey is an "invention kit for everyone," and it allows you to turn anything that can conduct electricity into a keyboard or controller.

• Mac computer with "Photo Booth" program, or some other simple photo app using a computer's web cam
• 1 MaKey MaKey kit
• 1 piece of cheese (in an effort to minimize grossness, we used a foil-wrapped wedge of cheese, like Laughing Cow)

1. Connect your MaKey MaKey via USB to your laptop
2. Figure out what "button" is necessary to take a photo in your Photo Booth app. Hopefully it's one that's already programmed on your MaKey MaKey. If not, you can use this site to reprogram the buttons on your kit to be anything from your keyboard: http://www.makeymakey.com/remap/.
3. Use one of the MaKey MaKey kit's alligator clips to connect your cheese to the appropriate button needed. The important thing about the item you're turning into a controller is that it must conduct electricity. Thus, we chose a foil-wrapped wedge of cheese, similar to Laughing Cow. Our clip attached to the metal foil, in an effort to keep the cheese…edible.

To make your cheese function as a button, you'll essentially be closing a circuit, so whoever is pressing the button ALSO needs to be connected to the MaKey MaKey. Use an alligator clip connected to one of the "earth" slots on the MaKey MaKey. You can simply hold the other metal end if desired, or you can make a (not so) fancy foil bracelet to wear that you clip.

Now, you can tap the cheese to take a photo!