The MINI.MU Is an Awesome Musical Glove Your Kids Can Make Themselves

We at Hackster, along with most of the maker community, really like the idea of projects that get kids interested in science and technology. The challenge, however, always ends up being figuring out what kids will enjoy making. We all know how boring some educational products can be for children, which can end up being counterproductive. The project needs to be exciting to build, fun to play with afterward, and just enough of a challenge to be rewarding. MINI.MU is a new wearable musical glove that fits all three.

MINI.MU was designed by MI.MU, Imogen Heap (formerly of British electronic duo Frou Frou), maker and children’s author Helen Leigh, and Pimoroni. MI.MU specializes in sensor-packed wearables, and gloves in particular, so MINI.MU is the perfect extension of that technology. Each £39.95 kit includes a BBC micro:bit, screen-printed felt, a MINI.MU sewable speaker, and everything else your kid will need to build the musical glove.

This kit is designed for children ages six and up, though some adult assistance is recommended for kids under 10 — especially for the sewing. Thorough instructions are included to walk them through building MINI.MU, and a series of YouTube tutorials, demos, and coding challenges will be published soon. Once they’ve made their MINI.MU, your child will be able to code and play 8-bit synthetic music with their new instrumental glove. Best of all, the flexibility of the hardware means they can continue to expand and customize MINI.MU even after they’re done making it.