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+) Rigamajig Basic Builder Kit is Ideal for classrooms, children’s museums, and public libraries, the solid wood 2cm (3/4”) thick planks range from 30- 110 cm (12”- 44”) in length. The Basic Builder Kit has 263 parts in total. Benefits of Rigamajig Promotes playful, cooperative learning 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. Enhances STEM and STEAM learning 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. Develops problem-solving skills 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. Encourages cognitive thinking and investigations 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. Quality Wood Manufacturing The Rigamajig Basic Builder Kit and Simple Machines Add-on Kit have been fabricated using the highest grade Baltic Birch Plywood and finished by hand in Rhode Island. The rope is woven and the canvas buckets sewn in Rhode Island as well. Wingbolts and Hexnuts are made in New York State from 100% recycled nylon. The brackets are made in Pennsylvania. What's the difference between Rigamajig and Rigamajig Jr.? Rigamajig is much larger, and has many more parts to share. It’s intended for 2-20 kids to play together in a supervised environment. Teachers across the US have been developing lesson plans that use Rigamajig to learn simple machines, mathematics, STEAM topics, and much much more. Best yet, the students design ways to use it in the classroom and all around the school. Rigamajig Jr. is great for 1-4 kids to play with. It requires less open space, and stores away in it’s own gym-bag sized duffel.
