Student-led Educraft creates educational products for children

For a class project, a group of Canyon Crest Academy students have started a business that sells art kits designed to teach children ages 6 to 12 about the environment, social issues and other topics.

CCA junior Haewon Chung, the company’s CEO, came to the U.S. from South Korea two years ago. She said she used that experience and her interest in art in starting the business, which they named Educraft.

“The idea for my business came from my background,” Haewon said. “I used to draw since I was a fifth-grader and I took it pretty seriously.”

She also drew from her experiences switching high schools multiple times, which contributed to her interest in creating an educational product.

“Naturally, I become more interested in education, arts and psychology,” Haewon said. “I thought a great way to incorporate all my interests into one idea would be something that would target young children to find an interest for arts as well, and nurture their creativity.”

Educraft’s products include the Ocean in a Bottle Kit, which comes with a reusable plastic mason jar, pipe cleaners, model magic molding clay, construction paper fish and other items required for about 10 to 15 minutes of assembly. Children can then display their finished products. Ten percent of sales are donated to Oceana, an advocacy group that contributes to ocean conservation efforts.

Another one of their products, the Endangered Animals Kit, comes with construction paper and templates, tissue paper, glue sticks and other items to help children call attention to animal specials that face extinction. Ten percent of sales go to the World Wildlife Fund.

The company also sells Qualities to Live By bracelet kits, which each have materials to make bracelets with words and phrases such as “love” and “be kind.” A portion of the proceeds goes to the nonprofit Stomp Out Bullying.

“I really wanted to support her dream to help other kids have a source for education and creativity,” said Olivia Jin, who serves as the chief marketing officer of Educraft and is also a junior at CCA.

For more information about Educraft, visit educraftart.wixsite.com/educraft.