Seeed Studio × Kids Engine: Bringing Hands-on Hardware Learning to Underserved Communities
Seeed Studio supported a series of Seattle workshops run by Kids Engine, a nonprofit focused on hands-on STEAM education for children from underserved communities. With Grove Shields for micro donated by Seeed, around 70 students explored how coding and electronics could help solve everyday problems.
In October, around 70 students joined three Kids Engine workshops in Seattle, working with visual programming, micro:bit boards, and Grove components. Seeed Studio supported the sessions with an in-kind donation of Grove Shields for micro:bit.
Student exploring coding with a micro:bit during a Kids Engine workshop. Photo provided by Kids Engine.
Learning to Build for Real Needs
Our support for these workshops reflects a shared focus: helping children use technology to respond to needs in their communities. Understanding who a device is for and what it should help them do gives children a reason to learn the code, connect the hardware, and keep improving their design.
Kids Engine’s workshops put that approach into practice. Children begin by identifying a person’s needs, then brainstorm ideas, build prototypes with micro:bit boards and Grove sensors, and test and refine their solutions. A challenge might involve caring for a garden, making a classroom more accessible, or conserving resources. Programming and electronics become tools children can use to explore those ideas, with empathy and experimentation guiding what they build.
Kids Engine’s wider Seattle program includes partnerships with the Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) and Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA) to reach children from lower-income, refugee, and immigrant families, who possibly have limited access to technology and engineering opportunities.
At the workshop tables, students worked with visual programming interfaces alongside connected boards and sensors. Across three recent sessions, around 70 students used the hardware, and the team shared that they enjoyed working with it.
Students explore coding and connected hardware at a Kids Engine workshop. Photo provided by Kids Engine.
For Seeed, making technology accessible includes helping people put it to use on problems that matter to them. We’re glad our hardware could support children in Seattle as they explored that possibility, and grateful to Kids Engine for creating the space for them to do so.
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