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Nüdel Kart, a social enterprise by Playground Ideas.

Open ended, child directed STEM and Creativity learning in a Mobile Kart

Creativity and social skills are critical for children, yet education systems are decades behind in teaching children this and many other skills they need to thrive in the 21st-century. Nüdel Kart supports educators by instantly creating an open-ended child directed learning space for children linked to curriculum to learn the critical foundational skills to thrive in our modern world.

Overview

Information on this page is provided by the innovator and has not been evaluated by HundrED.

Web presence

2019

Established

15K

Children

9

Countries
Target group
Teachers
Updated
December 2019
"..The creative interactions are endless and unique every time we use it...Every single child was totally engaged for the duration, they were collaborating , problem-solving, creating and innovating."

About the innovation

Why did you create this innovation?

Educators around the globe are desperately seeking innovative solutions to help their children to become more creative, better problem solvers and thinkers, & yet the curriculum that they are required to teach does not support. Nüdel Kart instantly creates an environment to teach these 21st-century skills directly to students. It supports self-directed learning, a growth mindset and social skills

What does your innovation look like in practice?

Nüdel Kart is a deconstructable, mobile play cart that can transform any space into a creative, loose parts, play space for 3-12 year olds.
✓ Adaptable and portable
✓ Built for mass rollout, delivered quickly in a crisis
✓ Encourages resilience, confidence and success, creating a strong sense of wellbeing – tackling development delay
✓ Supports social and psychosocial needs
✓ Works for all abilities including children with disabilities
✓ Perfect for International Development, Education, Trauma, Disaster recovery, Conflict and post war programs, Refugees and people on the move.
Nüdel Kart has been successfully tested in remote and challenging environments with Occupational Therapists and 3 universities. It can work in an unstructured environment as well as with existing curriculum. We are currently developing a method which uses the Nüdel Kart to develop and measure creativity which we can link to future success.

How has it been spreading?

Nüdel Kart have been delivered to almost 100 schools and communities on almost every continent. We now have US distribution and UK is in final negotiations, with other re-sellers around the globe . We are just about to launch a smaller more transportable version of the cart for the early years and allied health professionals. We have won several awards including 2 Australian Good Design Awards, Open IDEO Education in emergencies challenge, the San Diego Airport Innovation lab, and the Real Play City challenge.

Through the support of philanthropic partners we have been also been able to distribute many carts to schools and organisations supporting children in crisis.

If I want to try it, what should I do?

There are many Nüdel Kart around the world. We can let you know if there is one near you that you can see in the wild, alternatively you can check out our website where there is a lot of information and videos you can review. Or simply email or call us.
https://www.nudelkart.com/
hi@nudelkart.com
Marcus, +61 432 738 719

Media

Nüdel Kart™: Australian School Trial at Brunswick East Primary School
Nüdel Kart™ by Playground Ideas: For Refugees, Aid & Development
Nüdel Kart in Lesotho
The Nüdel Kart™ Story
PRESS RELEASE250 million children worldwide will not get the sufficient amount of stimulation in their childhood for them to reach their full developmental potential. Even in developed countries, the importance of play for children is underestimated and increasing urbanisation, climate change, and lack of public green spaces are contributing factors.The Nüdel Kart was designed to perfectly pair with a child’s unstoppable urge to explore, experiment, imagine and play, to create the perfect environment for a child to dramatically increase their capacity.So what is it?Nüdel Kart is a mobile play and learning space, a kart that explodes into more than 200 different research backed loose parts, that children can explore and experiment with in endless ways. How does it work?Nüdel Kart has taken the concepts and principles of loose parts and refined them to create a powerful combination of elements proven to work together to maximise an endless array of activities. The nature of loose parts play encourages imagination, creativity, and experimentation. Specific design features of the kart encourage collaboration, communication, resilience and negotiation. Is it proven?Nüdel Kart has been designed, prototyped and trialed in some of the most divergent contexts for children on earth, from crowded, desperate refugee camps to exclusive western private schools. The Nüdel Kart is advised by longitudinal research from Cambridge, Harvard and the University of Sydney, currently running a 17 year trial providing and observing how children interact with different materials. What teachers and children are saying"You can make whatever you want. You can go deep, deep into your imagination.” – Child, 8 yrs, Moonee Ponds West Primary School"Children just love the freedom to play and just to be. They learn so much about themselves, things that they don’t even know are possible.” – Principal, Coolaroo South Primary School "We decided to make a vehicle and I was proud of what I did. I wanted to do something really big. It was really hard but it was fun.” – Child, 7 yrs, Moonee Ponds West Primary School Nüdel Kart is a social enterprise by non-profit Playground Ideas. ​100% of the profits go towards creating stimulating play spaces for children anywhere in the world. https://www.Nüdelkart.com/About Playground IdeasPlayground Ideas supports anyone, anywhere, to build a stimulating space for play using local materials, tools, and skills. Playground Ideas has over a decade of experience creating resources and building a global community with specialisation in scale at low cost. Playground ideas have supported play projects in over 4100 communities, 143 countries, helping over 2 million children to access stimulating play worldwide. https://playgroundideas.org/Playground Ideas was founded by Marcus Veerman in 2011, and he and Emma Ribbens co designed the Nüdel Kart.Contact Laurette on 0408 003 099 or Marcus 0432738719 for more information.
Hey Educators! This is the Award Winning Nüdel Kart.
Nüdel Kart — Mini
(A 100% non-profit Social Enterprise by Playground Ideas)Only 6 months after launching the full size Nüdel Kart to educators, we have fast tracked the Nüdel Kart Mini so your kids can have just as much fun at home with loose parts play. (And possibly provide you, the parents and carers, with some much needed relief!)The Nüdel Kart Mini is a palm-sized complete replica of the Nüdel Kart. And it comes complete with all the same loose parts. Over 200 in fact!Designed for children 6+, the Nüdel Kart Mini will arrive in 5 separate plywood sheets which you simply need to assemble. Mum or Dad, you might need to help with some of the more fiddly bits.The pieces simply pop out and then click together. Simply follow the included instruction manual to make a Nüdel Kart mini.From there, it’s up to the imagination what you want to create. Just like the full sized Nüdel Kart, the Mini can be deconstructed and rebuilt into millions of different configurations. 
Melbourne Documentary Film Festival
Off the back of a SOLD OUT show at the Nova ‘Transitions Film Festival’, the Nüdel Kart documentary is also being featured at the Melbourne documentary film festival. (http://mdff.org.au/films/wheels-of-wonder)Another fantastic achievement for our winderful  filmmaker Roger Ungers.
Wheels of Wonder Trailer BUY TICKETS NOW FOR MAY 8TH SPECIAL *AT HOME* SCREENING.
ABOUT THE MOVIE“The Wheels of Wonder follows a team of ambitious social impact creators as they enter Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, with a curious project. Their mission: to trial and test an unusual prototype play cart with the hope of improving the lives of refugee children through “loose parts” play.The project is led by Marcus Veerman, founder and CEO of Playground Ideas, a not-for-profit providing open-source playground building resources which benefit children all over the world. Veerman’s passionate and skilled team includes a Product Designer, Play Specialist and Technical Lead. Despite plenty of planning, the group face numerous challenges whilst constructing and trialling a material-based prototype in a country which is currently home to an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees.This thoughtfully told story highlights the importance of play, which is said to be as crucial to a child’s brain development as food and sleep. The film shines a light on the immense challenges facing those who have been forcibly displaced, but transcends politics with uplifting moments of strength and resilience in the face of adversity.”

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