MaKey MaKey is a new and extremely simple circuit board that lets you turn any surface into an input device for your computer, meaning you can create your very own set of piano stairs, a banana keyboard, a Play-Doh gamepad, or even a human synthesizer. It's the brainchild of Jay Silver and Eric Rosenbaum, two final-year PhD students at the MIT Media Lab, who have taken to Kickstarter to get the project off the ground. It's a tiny circuit board (around the same size as an Arduino Uno) that connects to your computer via USB and uses a number of crocodile clips to hook up other objects.

The ethos behind MaKey MaKey is that anyone can invent artistic engineering projects using the simple kit. Because it just emulates a USB keyboard and mouse, there're no drivers to install or code that needs to be written, though it can also work like an Arduino if you decide to get into coding later on. The board's currently on Kickstarter, with a pledge of $35 enough to secure your unit, and at the time of writing has just over $21,000 of its $25,000 goal with 28 days to go.