"The whole goal is to spark that initial interest,” says Rober’s co-founder Bill Lee in an interview with Forbes about his mission to reach 1 billion young minds.

“You click on a video about a 15-ton Jell-O pool and before you know it, you're learning physics. That's the magic."

From Screens to Classrooms

Rober started with YouTube videos, now he's building curricula.

CrunchLabs is developing "Class CrunchLabs"—a free, comprehensive science curriculum for middle schools that brings the production value of YouTube into traditional classrooms.

The old model: Here's the textbook, here's the lab, here's the test. The new model: Here's a mystery that will blow your mind, let's figure out why it works.

CrunchLabs Build Box

Mark Rober's CrunchLabs Build Box is what happens when you spend a year developing each product, test it with real kids, and pair it with cinematic storytelling that makes physics feel like magic.

Each monthly kit arrives with an engineering challenge and a Mark Rober video that reveals the science behind it. Every build is meticulously crafted by a team of engineers and storytellers. Every kit gets safety certified. Every box is designed to spark that "wait, how does this work?" moment that turns kids into lifelong learners. Every video delivers scientific concepts through narrative and surprise.

30 bucks a month if you pay monthly, or save $65 when you purchase an annual subscription. Recommended for kids 8-13 (for teens, check out the “hack pack”).

About the author

Charlie Deist

Charlie Deist (aka “the OpenEd newsletter guy”) is the editor of OpenEd Daily and Head of Content at OpenEd, where he curates compelling thoughts, trends, and tools for parents rethinking education. When he’s not writing or wrangling content calendars, he’s tending to a small homestead in rural Northern California, where he lives with his wife, four kids, and a rotating cast of cows, pigs, and chickens. Most of his best ideas come while hauling feed buckets or chasing animals that found a new way to escape.

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