Encouraging kids globally to build...
In the midst of our technological abundance, 250 million children still do not have access to basic education. When you build a kit, we donate one to a displaced out-of-school child.
We're inspired by Richard Feynman, XCKD, Carl Sagan, Kevin Kelly and folks who tinker.
Design Journey
Every detail of our kit is the result of a unique design process. We co-designed it with children in our user communities, ensuring it's engaging and intuitive.
This real-world feedback, combined with our founder's MSc in Child Development from the University of Oxford, has resulted in a manual that builds not just a product, but a sense of accomplishment and self-efficacy.
One-for-One Model
At the heart of Ambessa is a belief that every child, everywhere, regardless of the resources they have access to, should have the opportunity to build, learn, and play.
Ambessa means lion in Eritrean and Ethiopian languages but you can also say ‘ambessa!’ to a child as ‘well done!’ translating to: brilliant, clever, strong.
Ambessa to the moon!
Through our partners across NGOs, government and grassroot organisations, we have donated our kits across eight countries. We also work with the University of Oxford and MIT D-Lab to distribute and study the impact of our kits.
Featured in...
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"33 Smart STEM Toys for the Techie Kids in Your Life: We found lots of math-filled and science-rich toys for tiny nerds to assemble, bake, squish—or even tear apart and rebuild."
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"Ambessa Play and Pentagram's DIY flashlight kit is co-designed with displaced children for practical, educational use."
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"Beyond in-built lessons about kinetic energy and electrical components, and the emotional lessons of self-efficacy and empowerment, there is a more subtle and broader lesson for the design community – form can (and often should) follow function, but function must first follow advice from future users."
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