FabKids brings young people into the lab to build together. Students collaborate on projects, and hands-on STEM work connects what they learn in class to things they can make.
FabKids brings young people into the lab to build together. Students collaborate on projects, and hands-on STEM work connects what they learn in class to things they can make.
Every Saturday, a group of 10–16 year-olds arrives at I.O.Me001 in Kizingo with ideas they've sketched in their notebooks. By the end of the session, those sketches have become something you can hold — a laser-cut keychain, a small robot chassis, a prototype of a door alarm. That transformation is what FabKids is about.
The programme runs in parallel at both labs. In Lamu, the sessions focus more on woodworking and electronics because of the crafts culture in the area. In Mombasa, students gravitate toward digital fabrication and coding. But the outcome is the same: young people who understand that making something is within reach.
Teachers from nearby schools attend to see how the work connects to what they teach in class. Several have since brought their whole classes for one-off sessions. The lab feels different when it's full of students — louder, more chaotic, but also more alive.