Invention helps kids ‘be anything’
Strawbees is an award-winning prototyping toy that allows students to develop skills in creating and inventing. In 2011, Strawbees inventor Erik Thorstensson discovered that plastic waste from IKEA’s lamp shade production could be used to create simple connectors that attach to straws and cardboard, which later came to be known as Strawbees.
It was named Strawbees by a boy who played with the kit at the Maker Fair in San Francisco because the kit contained straws and “bees”, which was defined as “be anything”, according to the inventor.
Thorstensson and Strawbees founder and CEO Erik Bergelin launched the company 30 months ago through a Kickstarter campaign. The toy is loved for its simple design and endless building possibilities.
“We really believe in STEM education, combining every subject of science, technology engineering and maths for problem-solving on your own and it’s available for everyone,” said Bergelin, adding that the toy can help children develop their problem-solving skills.
Strawbees compels users to create and be hands on. It’s very important to connect theory with hands-on learning, he added.
Strawbees encourages kids to start building and developing their skills in 3D construction. The kit offers cost-efficient materials for them to start developing their engineering and maths skills. Makers also can add programming to the learning kit.
Bergelin noted that users in Japan added programming for first-grade students because students understood basic programming at that age. It’s like learning any language, and of course it’s fun.
Due to its unique mechanical and building properties, Strawbees’s patent-pending system architecture is already sold in 25 countries.
“We encourage them to be explorers and invent a new way of using Strawbees through their imagination,” he said, noting the toy comes with guides to help beginners get started.
One Strawbees creation, a light-sensing leaf, reacts to light the same way plants do in the real world, allowing students insights into the world of botany.
Users will have a new challenge every month. Strawbees offers 24-month programme that gradually becomes more difficult as students become more comfortable with their inventing skills.
In the first class, they normally create an animal. In the second class, they make the animal walk or make sounds. This progress often excites the student to want to create more, Bergelin said.
“One they progress a step, it creates confidence, then you can solve problems in the future. It’s not about language, not about biology, it’s not all about programming. It’s actually a mix of everything together … bringing every subject into one class,” he said.