劲爆大瓜

Have you ever made something out of Lego bricks and wished it could do something more?

Well, two dads have brought out a new toy that works in conjunction with Lego and is both educational and fun鈥攏ot to mention it makes things move.

Squamish local Holden Bonwit and West Vancouverite Mark Vaughan launched SparkBlocks on (a crowdfunding platform for creative projects) this week with hopes to fill a gap in the STEM toy world.

鈥淪parkBlocks are electronic building blocks that teach real STEM skills鈥攖hat's science, technology, education and math skills鈥攂ut in a way, that's kind of almost disguised as a toy, because that's what it is,鈥� Bonwit told The 劲爆大瓜. 

鈥淚 actually call it the learning mullet, you've got toys up front, but then in the back, it's really STEM skills and learning,鈥� he said with a laugh. 

The SparkBlocks click onto Lego blocks and other building block toys and transform them into new creations. 

鈥淭his is a system of learning that builds on one of the most proven open-ended toys we've ever seen. So this is built on the Lego system that has basically no limits. The limit is your imagination, right? And so by building on that and leveraging that, we start introducing a new stream to it that's specifically teaching around circuits,鈥� Bonwit said.

鈥淲e've designed them so that they're equivalent in the brick format, but inside it, we've embedded real electronics with circuit boards and lights and batteries and everything else so that the bricks come to life, and that's why we call them blocks instead of bricks.鈥�

The invention was created by Vaughan during COVID-19, but it was when he met Bonwit that it transformed into a real-life product.

鈥淸Vaughan] had this idea, and he prototyped it the last few years, and I met him last summer, and I immediately said that this is not just an invention, this is a product, and we need to let this see the light of day and get it to kids everywhere. And so that's what we've been working on for the last year, shifting it from an invention to a product,鈥� Bonwit said.

What鈥檚 on offer

There are four kits currently on offer through their Kickstarter: the Intro to Circuits Kit, the Advanced Kit, the Family Pack and the Smart Classroom Kit. 

Also available are add-ons which include a walking ant, patrol car, fire truck, and a three-in-one mighty machines kit. 

Bonwit describes the Intro to Circuits Kit as an academic approach to learning the basics of circuitry. 

鈥淚t's kind of designed for kids aged eight to 12, but really kids as young as five, and certainly adults have fun playing with it,鈥� he said. 

鈥淎longside that kind of academic thing, we include a bunch of pieces that can build fun things like helicopters and other things with that same kit.鈥�

Also in the kit is a learning guide that explains STEM ideas such as polarity, current flow, control systems and electronic systems, which kids can opt to follow, or not. 

鈥淪tudents can choose either to follow the learning guide mode, or we'll include a set of Ikea-like instructions that are word-free. So they can build a helicopter, and if it doesn't work well, that's because the circuit isn't built right, and then they can follow the guide more closely,鈥� Bonwit said.

The Advanced Kit takes kids from a beginner circuit knowledge through to complex inventing. 

It includes everything from the Intro Kit plus a remote control block, extra LEDs, stud-to-wire connectors, advanced components and more bricks. 

The Family Kit includes one Intro Kit and one Advanced Kit, while the Smart Classroom Kit includes eight Intro to Circuit Kits. 

All blocks are labelled with real electronic symbols used by engineers to help kids understand why a circuit is or isn鈥檛 working. 

Who is it for?

While the targeted age group for SparkBlocks is eight and older, Bonwit says their toys are for people between the ages of five and 105. 

鈥淚 get lots of comments that say 'My kids are going to love this,' but I also love the comments that say, 'I want this for myself because it is fun,' and I think as adults, we sometimes forget to play,鈥� he said. 

鈥淭he reality is that play is very good for our brain and creates new neural pathways, and so getting a kit like this for yourself is not that crazy.鈥�

The duo ran trial sessions at different learning centres in the North Shore as well as KiddoSTEAM Academy in Squamish earlier this year.

鈥淏oth the students at the Pro-D Day events, as well as the families that we hosted for a Family Science Day, pretty much across the board said, 'Can we take this home? Where can we buy it?' So it seems like people are excited about it,鈥� Bonwit said. 

鈥淭hat's why we're running a Kickstarter, because we want to make sure that it's a real sentiment that enough people share to go through the effort of cutting the actual production moulds ... that can make these in real life.

Pricing

Kit pricing starts at $163 with special discounts for early bird buyers. 

• Intro to Circuits Kit: $163 (or $149 for the first 70 buyers)
• Advanced Kit: $308 (or $286 for the first 55 buyers)
• Family Pack Kit: $464 (or $423 for the first 70 buyers)
• Smart Classroom Kit: $1,199 (or $1,095 for the first 10 buyers)

SparkBlocks will be available to purchase on until July 16, and all orders are anticipated to be shipped in the fall.

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