cirkits

Cirkits is a sewable electronics kit for children designed to introduce circuitry, computing, and making through hands-on play. I worked on the design of the kit, which reimagines the traditional children’s stitchcard as an interactive electronic object. A series of sewn and photographed circus characters guide children through circuits of increasing complexity, using conductive thread, LEDs, batteries, motors, sound, and microcontrollers to bring each character to life.

The project grew out of five years of research led by Yasmin Kafai at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, including workshops with hundreds of children and adults across Philadelphia at institutions such as the Franklin Institute and Free Library of Philadelphia. Drawing inspiration from Friedrich Froebel’s 19th-century educational toys, Cirkits combines craft and contemporary technology to create an accessible entry point into electronics and engineering.

The research was ultimately translated into a consumer-facing product and launched through a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $10,000. The campaign brought Cirkits from research and iterative prototyping into production, requiring the design of a complete kit, packaging, instructional materials, and a system that could be manufactured and distributed at scale.