Sprout’s Super Spark grants to light up early childhood education innovations

The deadline to apply for the second round of the Sprout Fund’s Super Spark grants is Dec, 13, just as the projects funded last year are about to take off.

The grants, supported by the Grable Foundation, give up to $50,000 to early childhood learning projects that link kids to age 8 with media and technology. Unlike the Mini-Spark grants, Super Spark requires a team of applicants.

Debuting tomorrow, Dec. 9, at the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium is 2009 Super Spark grantee Reefbot, a robotic submersible for kids to steer through the two-story ocean tank, capturing images and using interactive software to identify and learn about its creatures. Last year’s other funded project was Isabel’s Playground, currently being developed at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Collaborating with Carnegie Mellon University and Ohio-based Southpaw Enterprises, this special inpatient playground for kids with health issues will be embedded with fiber optics and other materials that interact with the children. It is set to open in March, 2011.

Sprout Programs and Communications Associate Ryan Coon says the new focus on connecting children to technology and media emerged this year: “In Pittsburgh, we’ve got a lot of energy and experimentation going on developing new media, coming from the universities and startups and traditional media. And there’s a community of people dedicated to early childhood services. We wanted to bridge those two worlds. They are perhaps farther apart than we thought they were.”

Writer: Marty Levine

Source: Ryan Coon, The Sprout Fund

Image courtesy The Sprout Fund