Our Mission

Building Tomorrow's Innovators - Welcome to Strawbees!

We learn by doing and create through imagination.

A STEAM education where coding, creative confidence, and hands-on rapid prototyping are supported by digital resources for educators and learners - Welcome to Strawbees!

Regardless of age or ability, in the classroom or after-school club, Strawbees flexible building kits help develop complex problem-solving, critical thinking and creative skills online and through hands-on learning, unplugged.

Strawbees are currently present in over 20,000 schools across 40 countries worldwide. We're on a mission to empower teachers and educators to lead the next generation into a future that will look radically different to the now, building on the premise that 21st-century skills (collaboration, communication, critical thinking, confidence, content and creative innovation) are the skills that will empower learners.

How do we do this?

Through educational leadership in STEM/STEAM and an abundance of online resources aligned to both the Curriculum for Excellence and the National Curriculum, built upon a hands-on STEAM learning approach away from the screen.

Possibilities

If you can dream it, you can build it.

That’s why Strawbees comes without rules, restrictions or wrong turns. You can use computers, your hands, your initiative, your imagination. You can recycle or upcycle whatever you can get your hands on.

With Strawbees, the possibilities are infinite.

possibilities - Starwbees St Peters.jpg

Learning by Trying

Learning by doing isn’t good enough.
Learning by trying is the future.

We believe in developing learners’ creative confidence and love of technology so they can make sense of the world and solve new problems.

Knowing how to build, explore, test and experiment is vital for true educational breakthroughs.

learn by trying - Starwbees St Peters.jpg

Making Connections

Strawbees helps merge the physical with the digital:

  • We introduce learners to their true potential.
  • We fit any teaching style, objective and budget.
  • We inspire communities and forge exciting partnerships.
  • We are a connector in more ways than one.
making connections - Starwbees St Peters

The Inspiration Behind Strawbees

Some words from Erik Thorstensson, Inventor and Co-founder of Strawbees.

Strawbees_clothespin_used_as_toys_in_India

DIY clothespin was used as a building toy by kids in India.

The seed of the idea started when I went to India with my recycling machine. I looked at the materials they had available - cardboard, plastic bottles, food packaging and of course drinking straws!

I started to make clothespins, a couple of thousands in neon colours, using a very simple pattern. Clothespins in India are very useful, for outdoor solar drying spins. The pupils got excited about their new building tool and started building massive structures with these clothespins.

These little connectors proved themselves to be extremely versatile. They could be combined and used with multiple materials to build and create, transforming what otherwise would be garbage into a playful (and useful) experience.

So that’s what we started out doing at Strawbees, building value through available materials and educational value through building, allowing kids to develop their creativity and invention literacy.
erik@4x (1)
Erik Torstensson Boije

Inventor and Co-founder of Strawbees

Timeline

Our Story

2012-2014

Invention Phase

  • Erik Thorstensson went to India - made first connectors out of waste materials.
  • Created first prototype with kids at Kids Hack Day.
  • Name picked by 9-year-old kid at Maker Faire New York:
  • “They connect straws and can bee anything, and it sounds like Strawberries and everybody loves them!”
  • Founded by Erik Thorstensson and Erik Bergelin after a successful Kickstarter.
  • Awarded 2014 Toy Design of the Year.
strawbees_about_history_2012
2012-2014
2015-2020

Development Phase

  • Awarded for design and potential by Forbes and Fast Company.
  • Acquired sister coding & robotics company Quirkbot.
  • Signed MOU with United Nations adhering to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
  • Pivoted to EdTech developing an educational product range.
  • Launched our new technology products, in partnership with BBC micro:bit.
strawbees_about_history_2015
2015-2020
2021-2024

Growth Phase

  • Launched Strawbees Classroom, providing free educational resources
  • Won Kids Judge BETT Award at the largest EdTech event London, judged by a panel of kids.
  • Won 2022 Nordic EdTech Award recognizing the best Nordic educational technology innovation
  • Appointed Anne-Louise Wirén as the new CEO, bringing her extensive experience in digi-physical business models and digital marketing from the mobile operator Gallon.
  • Acquisition by the Albert Group, a leading provider of education technology solutions in the Nordics, integrating Strawbees into their digital education offerings.
  • Launch of Strawbees in the UK market
  • Awarded by Education Alliance Finland in innovation, pedagogy, and student engagement.
  • Educator and student resources aligned to ISTE standards, NGSS, NGSS, SDGS, CS, Curriculum for Excellence, National Curriculum and more.
strawbees_about_history_2020
2021-2024
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Sustainability

Strawbees was born by upcycling a single-use straw. We want to stay true to our roots. That’s why we make a continuous effort to reduce, reuse and recycle in different stages of the Strawbees lifecycle. We are also involved in research projects to find the materials of the future that will help achieve the goal of a circular economy.

Erik Thorstensson, our Chief Innovation Officer and inventor behind Strawbees is a mechanical engineer specialising in environmental product design:

“We are a company full of young aspirational engineers, environmentalists, developers, creatives and educators. To aim for a closed-loop system and to reduce, reuse and recycle is simply part of our DNA.”

Sustainability_erik_award

Erik Thorstensson got awarded the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year Swedish Recycling Award 2011’, inspiring the next generation to reduce and prevent waste.

 

Our multi-use straws are designed to be used over and over again. The benefit of using high-quality plastic in the shape of a straw means we can use much less plastic and our structures become very lightweight. This way we optimise material usage by student per year and we can even make things that fly!

This aligns with the first principle of Environmental Responsibility:

Reduce!

Strawbees connectors and straws are easy to modify and durable. They can get bent, get wet and even put in the dishwasher. Strawbees can also be used with a wide range of upcycled materials like cardboard, plastic containers, and regular straws, adding value to material that otherwise would end up in the bin. In the end, you take your project apart and can start over again.

This aligns with the second principle of Environmental Responsibility:

Reuse!

Our own Strawbees building straws are studier, more durable and, like our connectors, made with 100% recyclable plastic. In Sweden, material recycling of plastic is at 44%, counting energy recycling towards it, it is higher. To make our kits easier to recycle we have chosen to use the easiest plastic to sort and recycle, Polypropylene (PP), for all components in the system. That way, when they are completely worn out you put them in the recycling bin.

This aligns with the third principle of Environmental Responsibility:

Recycle!

Sustainability_reduce_reuse_recycle