Your child makes their own wooden torch using our kitset which includes laser-cut pieces, electronics and instructions.

Our kitset Bluetooth speakers work properly and give quality sound.  They can make the (limited edition) "Sparkle" Christmas Tree for the dining table, or their bedroom.

Tinker Tiles are a new system we have developed which enable kids to design things "in the world".  The tiles can screw onto a base board - this helps your child work out the circuit needed.  We also include lots of wire so they can take their design "off the board".

For example, they might want to make a few origami lights above their bed, or their own mini fan - our kit will enable them to do this.

We normally say age 8+.  That's for independent making.  But it depends on your child's "makiness".

The torch isn't just connecting up a light circuit.

When making this, your child is working on their fine motor skills and the ability to follow instructions.

Kylie says her very keen 5-year-old daughter was still a bit young for the torch kit.  This means that her parents helped with the instructions and held things for her as she put it together.   However, she still had the satisfaction of making most of it.

In contrast, a 12-year-old I helped struggled to put the batteries in the right way and I also had to explain which way to turn a screwdriver.  He was thrilled when he finished making it.

So we aren't the same and need different levels of help and that's why an age range is tricky.

No, we design and make our kits ourselves here in NZ.

Stefan draws them up then laser-cuts them in Russell, New Zealand.

He sends them to Sophia in Auckland who packages them all up, writes instructions and sends them off to you.

We order our electronics from overseas because NZ doesn't manufacture these.

We try as much as possible to get our packaging and anything extra from NZ local sources.

Thanks to Catherine at Documents by Design for our logo, Digitees for our cool t-shirts and Tony at Laser Innovations who did our laser cutting before Stefan insisted on making his own laser-cutter!

We make our kits from eco-ply wood.  If you drop them, they don't shatter - unlike say, a plastic item.

One of the neat things is that if a bit falls off or a tile or wire comes loose, the child knows how to fix it.  Because they put it together themselves.  Maybe it needs a bit more glue or a rubberband to hold it securely.  Maybe a quick tighten of a screw.

Our torch has a wide and strong beam so is perfect for camping.  Our speaker sounds good - good bass and quality sound.  You can use the Sparkle Tree year after year.

There isn't too much that can go wrong unless you give them an extremely hard life.

There is a subscription based science kit service that has a name with "Kiwi" in it - but they aren't NZ made.

We get asked frequently if we are planning such a service.

Short answer, we'd love to but we need to develop more kits.

We certainly have a lot of ideas!

Join the mailing list to keep up with new developments in our range.

Looking after the planet is a big value of ours.

We choose to drive hybrid and electric cars - or bus and walk.   We both compost and recycle and use our "Rubbish Whisperer" bags to buy our veges!

So we decided from the start to try and source the good products.

We choose sustainably harvested Italian Black Poplar.  It's grown in land that was once used for agriculture.  (So it was already cleared).

A lot of places use bamboo which can be amazing but you do need to check the provenance.  Unfortunately, bamboo has become so popular, that people are cutting down rainforest to plant fast growing bamboo.  MDF is also a bad choice for us because it's full of glues and can also be made up of scarce native woods.

We do get our electronics from overseas so we try to buy in bulk rather than tiny orders.  Because we're small, this is somewhat tricky.  We try to use metal or resist plastic where we can.

We buy our packaging here and don't have fancy plastic windows in our box.  We've been asked to.  But it just adds more soft plastic into our landfills.   All our packaging is paper or card and can be reused/recycled.

And, we've made a conscious decision not to use coin cell batteries.  These cause dreadful burns to the oesophagus within 20 mins of accidental swallowing.  They can't be recycled or reused.

We're not perfect, but like everyone, we are trying to work through the issues and practice sustainability.

These are just some questions we get asked.  Do you have one?  Please either use the "Contact Us" form, or email Sophia at:

sharperthinker@gmail.com.