📦 Packaged!

This summer, a small group of learners will step into the world of real design work.

Over five days, participants will collaborate like a creative studio to help shape packaging for Ladybug, a plant sensor product being developed in Vancouver. Along the way, they’ll take on roles like designers, storytellers, researchers, prototype builders, and project managers — and experience what it feels like to solve a real challenge for a real client.

Who We Are

Packaged! is created by Classmate, a small Vancouver-based team that works with schools to design meaningful learning experiences for kids.

For over a decade, we’ve partnered with teachers to bring real-world projects into classrooms, helping learners work on things that matter outside of school. Our mission is simple: support great educators and create learning experiences that spark curiosity, creativity, and a lifelong love of learning. 

We believe middle school is a powerful time for this kind of work. Research and educators like Chris Balme, author of Finding the Magic in Middle School, show that young adolescents are especially motivated when they are trusted with real responsibility, meaningful collaboration, and work that connects to the real world. 

We’ve seen this firsthand: when learners work on authentic challenges with real stakes, something changes. They become more curious, more invested, and more confident in what they can contribute.

Packaged! is our way of bringing that kind of experience into a focused one-week studio.

What is Packaged!

Packaged! is a one-week pilot program for learners who are curious about creativity, design, problem-solving, storytelling, and real-world collaboration.

This is not a typical summer camp. Learners won’t be following a preset craft project or completing a simulation. Instead, they’ll work on an authentic design challenge: helping develop packaging for Ladybug, a local product being designed to help people better understand and care for their plants.

Throughout the week, learners will explore questions like:

• Who is this product really for?
• What should someone understand the moment they see the package?
• How can packaging communicate value, story, and trust?
• How can it protect the device while also being thoughtful about sustainability?

By the end of the week, the group will present a shared packaging concept shaped by research, prototyping, client feedback, and collaboration.

What learners will do

Throughout the week, learners will work as part of a design studio, taking on different roles as the project evolves. At different moments they might be:

• researching how products are displayed and understood in plant shops
• exploring brand story and audience
• sketching visual ideas and packaging concepts
• writing product messaging and instructions
• building physical prototypes and testing structures
• thinking about sustainability, materials, and cost
• helping guide decisions and presentations as project managers

The group will generate ideas, test concepts, receive feedback from the developers of Ladybug, and refine their thinking together.

This experience is best suited for learners who are excited about things like design, storytelling, art direction, branding, writing, sustainability, plants, or solving real problems with other people.

You don’t need prior experience with design software or packaging design — just curiosity, openness, and a genuine interest in participating.

Why the price is so low

This program is being offered as a pilot, and we are covering most of the real cost in order to make the experience accessible while we learn from the process. That means learners get to participate in a small-group, high-support program for $180, which is far below what a program like this would normally cost.

Apply to join

Because the group is small, we’re hoping to bring together learners who are truly excited to be part of the experience. We’re looking for about fifteen learners of ages 11-14 who are excited to spend a week collaborating, designing, and solving a real challenge.

Rather than simple registration, we’re asking interested learners and families to submit a short application so we can bring together a group that’s genuinely excited about the experience. 

Applications due by TBD. Acceptances announced TBD.