For centuries, children learned how to sew using stitchcards. Now, Orkan Telhan and a group of students in the Integrated Product Design Program have teamed up with Yasmin Kafai of Penn GSE to inspire a new generation of makers and learners through Cirkits, a sewable DIY electronics kit.
Today they’ve launched a Kickstarter campaign with a goal of raising $15,000 by February 15 to pay for the production and distribution of cards depicting circus characters and a big top which spin, sign and light up when sewn together with conductive thread. To make a character light up, a child has to learn how to sew and connect the positive and negative sides of a circuit, offering children a basic understanding of how electronics work.
Kafai said Cirkits while the kits are designed to appeal to both boys and girls, she hopes the storytelling nature of the kits will especially interest girls, who are often less likely to be interested in the electronics.
Telhan, meanwhile, notes that toys and activities from even the early 1800s served as inspiration for a number of young designers – Charlies Eames, Buckminster Fuller, and Frank Lloyd Wright are just a few famous examples of people who played with kindergarten inventor Friedrich Froebel's toys as children.
If successful in raising funds by February 15, the group can pay for the production and distribution of the kits. Contribution points include three card beginner set for $30 dollars, a six card set plus the base board for $150, and a classroom pack of 10 beginner sets for $300. The team estimates they will be available for delivery by December 2015.
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