We used Scratch and a MaKey MaKey to make an interactive language game (English & Gaeilge). Orlagh (aged 10) asked me if we could make an interactive picture to teach younger kids the names of bady parts as Gaeilge (e.g. hand/lámh, ear/cluas, foot/cos). Our first attempt didn’t work (Ever tried, Ever failed, No matter, Try again) because the we drew the outline of the bear heavily so the circuits traveled across the entire bear. In the second attempt Orlagh darkened the body parts heavily but drew the outline of the bear softly (breaking the circuit). The idea was to create an interactive piece of art (which we did).

From a teachers point of view, I noticed that my colleague did not know the Irish translations of the body parts but I can guarantee after making and recording the audio for this, she will never forget them. A fine example of learning through doing and something worth reflecting on for teachers……have the textbooks she has used until now worked?

MaKey MaKey Teddy Teddy by Bianca Ní Ghrógáin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.