Emagination Island
Come ride our hot air balloon and learn to play with purpose. Our teen Emagineer Eileen made this!
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Logo by 16-year-old Andrea. Cloud cut-out by 16-year-old Angelina.
Digital Art by 16-year-old Angelina
Play with purpose
Our school system has not changed in over 200 years—since we transitioned from farms to factories during the Industrial Revolution. As a consequence, students wonder why they are learning for an age that no longer exists. The answer? A personalized, cause-based education that teaches kids to find a cause to champion and then make something that matters to help that cause. This learning adventure system is Emagination Island.
clarissa’s dream
…is to bring this personal, cause-based education system she developed with her students to the world to change education everywhere. Currently, our K-12 education system is based on what was invented 200 years ago for the Industrial Age to turn out cookie cutter kids who were taught to wait for directions, to solve a problem only one way, and to be interchangeable cogs in a machine. Is it little wonder that school is failing so many of our kids? And that a system designed to celebrate only ONE kind of intelligence has left our children thinking they are dumb when they are not?
AS the late Sir Ken
Robinson said in his celebrated TED talk, "Do Schools Kill Creativity," we bewail wasting natural resources, but worse still is to waste our human resources. We do this every time we put our children through a school system that fails to recognize that there's more than just IQ when it comes to intelligence. There are kids who create visual art that move us, kids who have a natural affinity for dance, kids who are great with people, and so much more. We need to celebrate all these kinds of intelligences so we do not make our kids think they are dumb when they are not.
for 23 years
…with her students, Clarissa has quietly built her personalized, cause-based education method. She has never advertised and works primarily through word-of-mouth alone. Eight of her students have given TED talks, while others founded charities with global impact and multinational businesses that lift up the world by putting people over profit. They win James Beard awards, become surgeons, develop VR for Facebook, and design self-driving cars. They become young people who are lighthouses with the heart and tools to help the world.
As education is the universal panacea to all our world's ills, what she would really like to do is bring Emagination Island to the world.
Our vision for Emagination Island won an international design award. In two minutes, find out about the secret learning adventure system Clarissa and her students developed over 23 years.
What is emagination Island?
A learning adventure system. A cause to champion. A way to play with purpose. Meet the young people who are building a new way to learn.
When we heard in some underprivileged communities in America, there is only one age-appropriate book per 830 kids, we dreamt of offering our kid-created books in an ice-cream truck bookmobile! Our teen Emagineer Avril made this.
films for a cause
Dogs. Bugs. Hippos who want to dance. Kids who need art classes. Meet four young people who learned to make films for a cause.
Did you know Governor Gavin Newsom wants the Golden State to become a “no-kill state,” ending the euthanasia of adoptable and treatable animals for good? Meet Kylie, the teen who is trying to help him do this with the charitable book she wrote to save shelter pets. Find out more at PawPrintStudios.org.
Can a group of kids who have never met get together to create a book, song, video, and website to raise money for kids who'd love to learn to dance?
Promise Tree is 14-year-old Christina's endeavor to sell her book to raise money to fund creative classes for kids who can't afford them.
Use your voice
85% of people use only 1 or 2 notes in their voices. Here, we learned to use our voices for a cause.
games for good
The Challenge: Design a learning adventure park that teaches kids to imagine, create, and give.
As a kid, Kylie loved building worlds in Minecraft. Never did she imagine she would build a learning adventure realm and Burger Coaster that teaches kids about polar bears, burgers, and global warming.
This is Lost & Hound, 12-year-old Luke's ride to save shelter pets.
Welcome to Erin's Crazy Top Hat, a multi-story adventure that teaches kids creativity through a zombie museum, elephants the size of coffee beans, a giant cherry pie, and more.
books for you
These Emagineers crafted books for the causes they care about to either offer them as free downloadable PDFs for kids in quarantine or to raise money to help others. Here are a few from our collection.
treasure hunts!
We know in the pandemic you have the blues
So we made a free treasure hunt to expand your views
Learn about the amazing world you see
Find out how happy you can be
If you’d like to sponsor a treasure hunt in your neighborhood
Here’s a chance to do some good
We’re providing the free downloadable hunt below
For kids who are bored to their toes
All we ask is someone pays for the printing cost of each book
We’ve donating all the labor it took
If you can’t afford a book, just download our hunt for free
We hope it brings you laughter and glee
