| The Strawbees construction system features sets of color-coded plastic straws and connectors that empower students to develop engineering and other STEAM skills. 1. The pieces, called Strawbees straws or Strawbees connectors, are durable, reusable, and recyclable. |
The Strawbees STEAM kits provide students with complete solutions for hands-on design, engineering, or programming. They're comprised of various reusable and recyclable straws and connectors that can easily snap together, allowing kids to build structures, mechanical contraptions, and robotic mechanisms. Among other real-world learning benefits, these creative construction sets help students to develop key invention literacies and see what it's like to build a Strawbees project with ease.
They also include access to lesson plans, activities, and insights within the Strawbees Classroom platform. Each comes with getting-started guides and thematic booklets for young students to engage in storytelling with the Strawbees system. These materials help students combine invention, play, and storytelling as they design and build. Educators can also find digital guidance for aligning classroom projects, like a Strawbees catapult or a truss bridge, to curricular standards as well as to SDGs.
The basic Strawbees kits and components.
There are a number of Strawbees kits in addition to the most popular options. These help educators focus on specialized areas of STEAM lessons, including highlighting sustainability, building invention skills, and more. For example, all lesson plans include suggested activities, guiding questions, behavior management ideas, preparation time tips, and classroom objectives. The activities themselves also include step-by-step instructions, tips, customizations, and challenges. So, whether you're in need of some guidance for getting started or you're ready for open exploration, the Strawbees content is super valuable!
When joining the connectors and straws, you’ll notice the connectors have a head and leg while the straws are hollow. The legs of the connectors have a groove on them so they can lock in place. To join connectors to straws, students can simply squeeze one end of these straws and slide connectors in, leg first. They can join two connectors by sliding the leg into the head of another one as well. All they have to do is listen for a click when the groove locks into the head. This secures their connectors together and allows for rotation. If you want to eliminate rotation, you can slide the leg all the way through the head.
Using the Strawbees kits in the classroom.
You can lock the straws in place to prevent slipping by sliding them through the head of a connector until it snaps onto the groove. You can also make joints out of multiple connectors since the straws are consistent across each of the Strawbees kits. So, with the more specialized kits, kids could incorporate servo motors, a motor pod, and even a remote control along with the traditional Strawbees building straws. Teachers can find more tips like this, quick activity examples for short lessons, and some more in-depth lesson plans for teaching with the Strawbees kits on the Strawbees Classroom platform.
If you want to add a coding and robotics element to any creations, there are Strawbees solutions for that, too. Their electronics hardware includes a circuit board, which they’ve named the Quirkbot, a rechargeable battery, LEDs, and a servo motor. They have pre-programmed settings for younger students to explore and coding options for students who are ready to program. Students can also choose to upload programs they have previously created to the Strawbees Code platform to use with these kits. This allows them to rework those programs or build on previous experiences while continuing to progress.
The web-based platform has three levels of coding: flow, blocks, and text. First, the flow level is an intuitive introduction to computational thinking. Next, its block level, which is based on Scratch blocks, serves as an intermediate step for students familiar with basic programming concepts. And, the text level features an authentic programming environment for those ready to create more advanced electronics projects. On this Strawbees Code platform, students can not only preview their flow and block code in text format, but they can also transfer it over to the text editor to modify it. One more thing—students just need to set up a new account before getting started with Strawbees Code (it can be a guest account).
More on the Strawbees Code environment.
Tutorials for creating programs are also found within the Strawbees Code platform (there's a section at the top). Also, if they click on the 'Block Coding Cards' link, students can find pre-created programs and open them right up in their programming field. This certainly helps save them time and ensures that their code is accurate. With the blank canvas in the Flow section, however, students can create a program using simple blocks or advanced blocks. The simple blocks have fewer components to them while the advanced blocks allow students to choose from more options for their inputs, brains, and outputs. From that point, they can get more complex with block and text programs. Plus, there are all types of unique inputs, including sonar, the light sensor, and the squeeze sensor.
The Strawbees offerings include different educational bundles, which you can find across our store, like the STEAM Classroom Bundle, the STEAM Classroom Robotics kits, STEAM Starter Robotics kits, and both of the Robotic Inventions for micro:bit kits. Each kit comes with plenty of building straws and the connector pieces to support at least a classroom of students. Their Pocketful of Ideas Kit also includes—you guessed it—dozens of project cards for constructing Strawbees inventions. Teachers can also utilize these materials in specific Strawbees lessons with the straws and other components in various MakerEd projects.
The Robotic Inventions for micro:bit kits include all electronics needed to program and to bring Strawbees creations to life! It is an awesome kit for combining play and inventing using Strawbees pieces with coding and sensing using the micro:bit V2. This kit includes 10 Strawbees connectors, 10 micro:bit clips, 10 servo motors, and 10 servo mounts though micro:bit boards are not included. Its easy integration allows children to create MakeCode programs using the micro:bit board and the Strawbees MakeCode extension. Plus, there's a similar kit that does come with the micro:bit boards as well.
Additional kits for STEAM and MakerEd.
Over time, the number of kits has grown quite a bit. Now, educators can access about a dozen Strawbees STEAM kits on our store and use them with Strawbees Code or find custom lessons on the free Strawbees Classroom platform. Kids could incorporate many different areas of STEM education and all programmable components are compatible with the Strawbees Code platform. Chances are, if kids have Strawbees ideas or aspirations for designing original Strawbees projects, they'll be able to make that happen with materials from one (or more) of these kits. Despite the large line of Strawbees solutions, they are still very affordable for integrating in a tech or makerspace curriculum.
If you're already utilizing Strawbees projects in the classroom or looking for insight on its effectiveness, we hope this helps! You can find the top kits for education on our store (and below). If you have any questions or would like to make a purchase, please let us know! Also, if you need any Strawbees replacement parts, our team might be able to help as well. Make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for more EdTech Tips & Tricks! And, explore our grant opportunities for a chance to get Strawbees kits in your classroom.
