Over the past two years, an incredible thing has been unfolding at Lar das Crianças da CIP, an afterschool program for students from low-income families in São Paulo, Brazil. Technology met creativity in a unique way, and we are envisioning how much learning and innovation this combination can leverage.

All of this was possible thanks to OctoStudio, an app that allows children of all ages to create animations, games and more, using just a cell phone or a tablet. And there's more: it's completely free and, after downloading, doesn’t require an internet connection to use.

The Birth of OctoStudio

In 2022, a year before the world witnessed the birth of OctoStudio, a project developed in the Lifelong Kindergarten Group (LLK) at the MIT Media Lab, the children from the Lar das Crianças da CIP had the opportunity to be one of the first to try out the application. This innovative platform has not only opened new doors for creative expression, but has also offered children the opportunity to explore programming in an intuitive and fun way.

Through a collaboration between Instituto Catalisador and BCLN, the Brazilian Creative Learning Network, the children at the institution not only had early access to the app, but they also contributed with suggestions and bug identification. They learned how applications are designed and built, a process that involves an entire team with diverse skills. It was very exciting to see the sparkle in the children's eyes as they created, explored and had fun with their own creations.

This participation of the Lar das Crianças da CIP in the OctoStudio launch tests was part of an action that involved partners around the world, aiming to involve students from different cultures and contexts, allowing them to express their ideas and interests through technology. We are very proud to be part of this global Creative Learning movement and to have contributed to the development of a platform accessible to everyone. And we are thrilled about the positive impact of using OctoStudio, since it empowers children and youth with a new digital skill, but also serves as an innovative way to strengthen educators.

Circles of Inventions + OctoStudio App: A Powerful Combination

At Instituto Catalisador, we integrated OctoStudio with a methodology we created called Circles of Inventions. We thought it was a great way to bring a new layer of purpose and meaning to both physical and digital creations. Circles of Inventions began as a constructionist activity in public libraries in São Paulo where, after reading sessions, children engaged in the creation of meaningful personal narratives through the construction of artifacts to be played with and shared. It starts with a Circle of Reading, followed by a Circle of Making and ending with a Circle of Narratives, all connected through the use of thoughtful facilitation and thinking routines.

One of the first times we used used the app with Circles of Inventions at Lar das Crianças da CIP was in a Circle inspired by the book “A Manual of House Monsters”, by Stanislav Marijanovic, in which we provoked the children to represent monsters that “appeared” in the class from time to time.

They had a lot of fun creating with playdough and natural elements such as rocks, leaves and seeds, and then we invited them to photograph their characters and animate them using the app.

Their first reaction was of pure excitement and soon they were helping each other take good pictures of their monsters and cut them from the background. A feature that one student discovered that they all loved was the voice recording. Although each student had a tablet, they collaborated a lot and were very interested in each other's projects.

While giving voice and movement to their creatures in OctoStudio, the conversation about the topic of the book reached a new level. It became very clear how this digital creation process feeds the creative learning spiral, a continuous cycle of imagining, creating, sharing and reflecting that strengthens the construction of new knowledge and collaboration between participants.

Family Engagement Through Creative Play

The combination of Circles of Inventions + OctoStudio also resulted in good creative moments with the families. We offered a workshop in the format of stations, where children and their families were first invited to be inspired by reading the books from the collection “Two dozen random little things that make us happy, by Otávio Roth and Ruth Rocha; then building something that makes them happy, and finally animating their objects at the OctoStudio station.

A girl named Hanna spent a long time at the Octo station animating two cardboard people she had built, which were representing herself and a friend of hers. She was trying to create a dialog between them to show how much she loves the Harry Potter books and was really taking the time to try on all the different possibilities of the blocks.

The joy of watching their creations “come to life” was evident on everyone’s face. Several people wanted to download the app on their own devices, excited by the idea of seeing their children asking for their cell phone to create something, rather than simply consuming content or playing video games.

What’s next?

It is really exciting for us to see how Circles of Inventions can connect reading, creating and programming in a fun and meaningful way.

💞 Sharing with public libraries in São Paulo — One of our goals in 2025 is to take workshops like this throughout the public libraries of São Paulo while spreading the framework to all the educators that work there. We believe that diversifying the activities offered at libraries here can attract more visitors and engage them with the books and the stories in a new way.

🟡 Circles of Invention — There's more information about Circles of Inventions at Instituto Catalisador's website (https://www.catalisador.org.br/roda-de-invencoes/), where you can also find different impressions and suggestions of Circles already tested by other educators. (They are in Portuguese, but are worth being translated ;)

🔗 Connect on Instagram — We are very happy to be part of this journey towards a future with more readers and creators! Follow us on Instagram: @institutocatalisador

🐙 PLIX OctoStudio Resources — Bring OctoStudio to your library with the resources on the PLIX OctoStudio activity page.

💡Be inspired — Learn about how other library professionals have used OctoStudio in their libraries on the PLIX forum