I built the High-Five box with my daughter to celebrate the last day of school. When two kids hold the connective rods and high-five, they complete a circuit and the box springs open with cheers and waving puppets.
I really enjoyed watching the kids' interactions as they high-fived all their friends, and even recruited new kids they didn’t know for high-fives. Some kids were interested in how it all worked, others just focused on getting their high-fives to connect with their partner’s hand (this is surprising challenging for many five year olds!).
I was insprired by the Makey Makey, which I had previously used to build a Nose Piano (the notes are played as you tap your friend’s nose), but wanted to drive a servo and sound chip right from the board so learned how to program a Micro:Bit, which was pretty simple. The sound board from AdaFruit was also remarkably easy to use.
High-Fives aren’t very Covid-friendly, so my daughter and I are considering modifying it to use a pair of DIY stomp-pads next time.
