Tinkamo Are Smart Building Blocks for Young Makers

One of the most altruistic aspects of the maker movement, which we should all continue to push for, is the involvement of kids. A great deal of effort is put into getting children interested in creating, and that’s a very good thing. But, exactly how to do is that is a tricky problem with a lot of possible solutions. One new solution is a smart building block set specifically for kids called Tinkamo.

Tinkamo isn’t the first LEGO-compatible electronic building block set on the market — LEGO even has their own electronic products. However, Tinkamo stands out because the design isn’t just easy enough for children to use, it’s also fun enough that they actually want to play with it and learn at the same time. There are a variety of blocks available to create pretty much anything that you could assmble with “grown-up” components like motors, buttons, knobs, joysticks, displays, and a huge variety of sensors. Each block connects wirelessly, so there is no need for complicated wiring.

Even more exciting, Tinkamo isn’t just for snapping together LEGO blocks. It also works with cardboard constructions, à la Nintendo Labo. Already, there are cardboard kits for building electronic musical instruments like a ukulele, an erhu, and piano. Everything can be programmed with a simple visual programming language similar to Scratch, which even has software blocks for AI speech and facial recognition.

Tinkamo is currently in the crowdfunding stage on Kickstarter, and the campaign is running until June 22nd. The most basic kit, which includes a motor block, gearbox, claw gripper, launcher, 30 building blocks, and a charging cable costs just $25 for early birds. Rewards should ship in November.