Sowing
Ages 6–8
How your child grows
Dares to touch, dares to try, is not afraid of mistakes.
Tools
- • NEO One computer with GCompris in Vietnamese
- • Camera and voice games on NEO
- • Lesson 1 on the simulator, no robot needed
The Làng Maker handbook
A robot is an object to think with
At Làng Maker (the Maker Village), children play with robots to learn how to think. A path for tinkering with robots from age 6: play to get curious, build something that actually works, then tell someone else how you did it.
We learn the way Seymour Papert (MIT) described: children learn deepest when they make something they care about. See why →
Five-year goal: one million Vietnamese children with access to STEM & robotics
How old is your child?
Pick the age band to see where to start, and how your child grows at that stage.
Branching
Ages 8–11
How your child grows
Fixes their own bugs and keeps going until the robot runs.
Tools
- • ThingBot with ThingBlock block programming
- • micro:bit with MakeCode
- • Tinkercad: drawing the 3D part you need
Bearing fruit
Ages 11–14
How your child grows
Builds real projects, works in a team, enters a first competition.
Tools
- • ThingBot with sensors and a PS2 controller
- • Tinkercad Circuits, App Inventor for a robot-control app
- • FanRoc and BlueSilk-style projects
Returning to the roots
Ages 14–18
How your child grows
Leads, teaches the younger ones, carries the flag abroad.
Tools
- • VIA board and the K12 Maker kit, Arduino C
- • The VIA e-book on self-driving cars and AI
- • FTC, FIRST Global, NASA Space Apps
The 8-stage path
From Khách Làng (village guest) to Già Làng (elder), in four seasons of the bamboo. Nobody has to climb all the way; each stage is a real place to stand.
One robot, three strands
Electronics, robotics and AI are not three separate subjects. They meet in the robot and grow with the child.
Electronics
Press a button and see a light, then plug in motors, then design your own sensor circuit.
Robotics
Drive a robot through a maze, then program in blocks, then build a self-driving car.
AI
Say “forward” and the robot moves, then teach the machine gestures, then delegate to an agent and check when it is wrong.
Four real AI activities at the village
- Stage 1Say “forward” and the robot moves; play camera games with the whole body
- Stage 2Teach the machine to recognise hand gestures in a camera game
- Stage 4Use an AI agent to build a game: describe the rules, the machine writes code, the child tests and fixes
- Stage 5A VIA self-driving car that sees the lane; a home-built voice assistant that drives the robot
The skills that stay: systems thinking, breaking big work into small steps, debugging, teamwork, explaining to others, and using AI as a tool: knowing how to delegate to the machine, how to check when it is wrong, and never letting it do the work for you.
FanRoc season
FanRoc is the entry competition for school students in Vietnam: launched in November, finals in March. At the village, students prepare with ThingBot, ThingBlock, a PS2 controller and the simulated field.
Partners & community
A united front for STEM education — everyone brings what they have, in the spirit of Hồ Chí Minh’s call: “those who have rifles, use rifles; those who have swords, use swords”
M
MakerViet
Maker community & open source
T
ThingEdu
STEM education & software
R
Rogo
ThingBot educational robot
F
FPT Shop
Maker Hub network
F
FIRST Global
International robotics challenge
Ready to start your STEM journey?
Children can start from age 4 — beginning with the Play beat, completely free.