‘Creative play’ aims to foster STEM interest’
The children’s play franchise Bricks 4 Kidz is set for a €3 million expansion in Ireland, with Wexford education entrepreneur Karl Fitzpatrick planning to license 30 new outlets within the next three years. Fitzpatrick said that he was already in advanced discussions with potential franchisees for the ‘creative play’ product.
Fitzpatrick opened the first centre in Wexford in recent weeks. The concept is built around teaching children the fundamentals of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) using LEGO bricks.
He said that start-up costs for each franchise were in the region of €100,000, and that he hoped to create 150 jobs through the rollout of the network. Fitzpatrick already runs a successful training business in Wexford.
The Bricks 4 Kidz business has evolved into a network of hundreds of franchises in the US. “I closely monitor international trends in the education sector, and the teaching of STEM through educational play has become a priority for governments worldwide,” he said.
“Bricks 4 Kidz stood out as a business that combined both of these elements, and has already achieved phenomenal success across the globe,” Fitzpatrick said. “If you can get kids switched on at an early age, then they go on and study those subjects in school and college.”
In addition to running indoor educational play centres, Fitzpatrick said that school visits could be arranged. “You can deliver it into schools, but the teachers haven’t been trained on it, so we’ll be doing educational play in schools and running after school classes there also,” he said.
26th July 2015 by Jack Horgan-Jones