Upcycler's Lab

Mumbai, India + 4 more

A for profit social enterprise that makes learning tools such as board games for kids that teach conservation and sustainability.

Upcycler's Lab aims to bring about mindset and behaviour change around the environment through play based learning tools such as board games and DIY activity boxes. Our products are mainly for children between 5-9 and teach concepts such as waste segregation, animal conservation and water conservation. Our aim is to create a fun learning atmosphere around environmental education and make it "cool"

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Shortlisted

Overview

HundrED shortlisted this innovation

HundrED has shortlisted this innovation to one of its innovation collections. The information on this page has been checked by HundrED.

Web presence

2018

Established

-

Children

1

Countries

Updated

April 2018

Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression.

About the innovation

Our Story

Many, many years from now, here’s what we’ll be telling our grandchildren…

Once upon a time, people simply threw away anything they didn’t or couldn’t use anymore.

Back then, children spent all their time on computers and watching TV, and playing on their parents’ phones. That’s all they wanted to do!

Can you imagine what a world it must’ve been!

Luckily, a few superheroes decided to change this and created the Upcycler’s Lab learning tools for kids.

Ok, we weren’t really superheroes, but we had something to do with saving the world!

And back in the present…

What we do:

Upcycler’s Lab is a social enterprise that makes learning tools such as board games and Do-It-Yourself activity boxes for smart, curious, can’t-sit-still-for-one-minute kids age 5 to 7. Our boxes are developed by a team of early education experts, curriculum developers, teachers, product designers and parents.

Ordering an Upcycler’s Lab DIY Activity Box means:

For the children: a few hours of weekend fun, working on different projects that can be done individually or in a team.

For the parents: a few hours of being able to hear your own thoughts.

For the world: a generation with a whole new perspective on waste and environment.

While all projects in our activity boxes are made from up cycled materials and we do focus on educating children about the importance of protecting the environment, that’s not what it’s all about: the activities themes are often related to school subjects such as shapes and patterns, habitats, water and more. with a focus on conservation.

How we got here:

The Upcycler’s Lab is a project of The Upcycle Co. We used to make products for adults, but we realized that we were unable to achieve our ultimate goal: to create a mindset and behavioral change around waste.

It dawned on us that this would be far easier with children, since they are not only more optimistic and willing to learn, but are also able to convince the adults around them to change. This is how we shifted our focus on early education.

To know more check out: www.upcyclerslab.com

Media

Shapes & Patterns Mini

Introduce your child to the exciting world of complex shapes and patterns.Our fun filled box has one amazing hands on puzzle that will keep your child occupied for hours! It also has an art activity with a twist which not only helps your child understand shapes and patterns but also integrates the concepts of eco-consciousness by making them think and question the earth around them. All our boxes have been created with the help of education experts, parents and designers and are inspired by STEAM based learning and Finnish Early Education. Also, all our boxes are made from either treated waste materials, recycled materials or sustainable materials. The Shapes & Patterns Mini: What's Inside: 1) Simply Shapes: Create a set of simple shapes and combine them to create interesting patterns. Also learn about polygons 2) World Of Shapes: Learn about the shapes all around us through this fun art activity

The Environment Box

Introduce the child to the environment all around them and let them explore concepts such as wind energy, human energy, the food cycle and much more. Teach them how to segregate waste through our unique and extremely fun board game which will keep your child engaged for hours! This box includes two science activities, an art activity, a puzzle and a board game. All our boxes have been created with the help of education experts, parents and designers and are inspired by STEAM based learning and Finnish Early Education. Also, all our boxes are made from either treated waste materials, recycled materials or sustainable materials. The Environment Box: What's Inside: 1) Wind Racer: Explore wind energy by building your own wind powered car made from waste! 2) Human Butterfly: Create a human powered butterfly and save up on all the non- renewable energies 3) Garbage Grab: A game that helps you learn how to segregate 4) Circle of Plants: Enjoy this fun puzzle and learn why composting food waste is important for our environment 5) Funny Fronds: Make your own funny faced planter and watch the seeds grow into a plant

Action for Aqua is a board game that works a lot like a card game. The aim is to complete your dry lake with clean water cards through positive action cards. This interactive game teaches children about water conservation and can be played by 2-4 children at a time.

Our waste segregation board game teaches young children how to segregate wet, dry and hazardous waste through play.

It's been an amazing 2 months since launch and we wanted to share some pictures of our Happy users!

The Environment Box

See our environment activity box here

Implementation steps

Get our learning tools

Contact me on amishi@upcyclerslab.com to purchase our learning tools to use in your classroom. We would also be happy to share ideas for implementation in the classroom that could be used as a part of your lesson plan. As a parent you could use these tools at home very easily by following our detailed instruction cards that come with each tool. Most of our instruction cards also come with talking points on the sustainability issue covered in that learning tool, as a means to further engage the child in deeper conversation around the topic.

Get in touch with us on amishi@upcyclerslab.com to get a few ideas on how to implement the tools as a part of a lesson plan