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Designed by Cas Holman, Rigamajig is a building system of carefully shaped wooden planks, wheels, pulleys, nuts, bolts and rope designed for collaborative makers to follow their curiosity through play.
Engaging the inquisitive mind and creative spirit, Rigamajig empowers children to think three dimensionally. Children often say “this isn’t a toy, this is real!” as they build machines and structures larger than themselves.
Rigamajig inspires group STEM problem solving and play in three dimensions to explore mechanics, engineering and structure. (Age 3+)
78 parts total; Rigamajig Simple Machines Add-On Kit is a brand new set of Rigamajig components to expand Rigamajig Basic Builder Kit, the large-scale building kit conceived for hands-on play and STE(A)M leaning! Simple Machines Add-On Kit includes gears, a new wheel-pulley, levers, belts, cranks, and axles!
These thoughtfully crafted loose-parts were created with educators' feedback in mind with the goal to provide a new perspective and range of discovery, tinkering and exploration inside a classroom, on a playground, or in any play space. Now, young collaborators can mechanize their Rigamajigs, making simple or complex systems that exemplify the principles of mechanics, direction and force. Similar to Rigamajig Basic Builder Kit, the Simple Machines Add-On Kit lends itself not just to structures of machines, but also all kinds of sculptural creations!
Simple Machines Add-On Kit is made and manufactured in the U.S. It is fabricated using the highest grade Baltic birch plywood and finished with a HAPS-free (Hazardouis Air Pollutant-free) finish, and the wingbolts, hexnuts, and brackets are made from a reinforced 100% recycled nylon.
Simple Machines Add-On Kit is not compatible with Rigamajig Junior Kit.
Benefits of Rigamajig
Rigamajig creates playful, cooperative learning communities, through means of collaborative building and child-directed play.The kit enables easily accessible, cognitively challenging play opportunities for children of any age in any environment.
Rigamajig fits with principles of STEM and STEAM education, which promote focus on science, technology, engineering, math, and art through hands-on, inquiry-based learning to provide children opportunities for creativity, innovation, collaboration, and critical thinking.
Children simultaneously practice problem solving while designing and playing with their technological inventions. They create and work with simple machines (e.g. pulleys, ramps, and screws) as a means to create new, more complex machines.
Play, fantasy, and imagination are all part of children's everyday cognitive thinking and investigations. It is when these are all manifested in a single activity that children invest and fully engage in problem solving and amazing feats of creativity.