Gallery
foto: Tokajuk
Experiment overview
An educational program that connected empathy development with creative problem-solving and environmental consciousness.
The initiative guided children through identifying real problems in their communities, designing innovative solutions, and implementing these designs using upcycled materials - creating a seamless connection between social awareness and circular making.
Main objectives
I designed this program as an process where children’s natural empathy transforms into invention - using an Empathy Manual to capture observations of everyday challenges, then guiding them to translate these insights and discarded materials into working prototypes that solve real problems, proving that both sensitivity and circularity are essential elements of meaningful innovation.
Achieved results
Children created remarkably innovative prototypes - from monitored hamster paddocks and dog bark translation collars to backpack-carrying drones and smog suction devices - all that using primarily upcycled materials.
Beyond the physical creations, participants demonstrated significant growth in their ability to identify problems, analyze root causes, and develop creative solutions while naturally incorporating environmental considerations into their design process.
Main reflection
This project revealed how quickly children adopt circular thinking when it’s presented as creative problem-solving rather than sacrifice.
Their immediate shift from “I need new materials” to “let’s use what we have” demonstrated that environmental values can be naturally integrated into education through hands-on making.