SparkBlocks Named Finalist in 2026 GESS Education Awards for Best STEM, Robotics and Coding Product

Canadian hands-on electronics company earns international recognition as it expands from homes into classrooms

VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- SparkBlocks, the Canadian company making electronics intuitive and hands-on for children, has been named a finalist in the 2026 GESS Education Awards for Best Product to Promote STEM / Robotics / Coding.

SparkBlocks is one of 11 finalists in the international category, competing alongside global technology companies including Sony Interactive Entertainment and its toio platform. The category recognizes products that help students and educators develop skills and knowledge in STEM, robotics and coding.

"Being named a GESS finalist is particularly meaningful because it recognizes what we've been working toward from the beginning: giving kids a way to understand technology by actually building it," said Mark Vaughan, CEO, inventor and co-founder of SparkBlocks. "Electronics can look complicated when you're staring at a circuit board. We wanted to make those same concepts physical, visible and intuitive enough that a child can start experimenting with them."

SparkBlocks turns real electronic components into LEGO®-compatible building blocks. Children can add lights, motors, switches, sensors and other electronic components to the construction-block creations they already build, allowing them to create working circuits and inventions while seeing how the electronics actually work.

Originally launched as a consumer product, SparkBlocks is expanding into education with classroom kits and curriculum that take students from foundational electricity and electronics into measurement, sensors, control systems, engineering, robotics and coding.

"For educators, the exciting part is that the building isn't separate from the learning," said Michelle Vaughan, Education and Outreach Director at SparkBlocks. "Students learn a concept and then immediately get to build it, test it, change it and figure out why it behaves the way it does. That process of experimenting and troubleshooting is where so much of the learning happens."

The 2026 GESS Education Awards will be presented in Dubai in November alongside GESS Dubai, an international education exhibition bringing together educators, schools, education leaders and suppliers from around the world.

About SparkBlocks

SparkBlocks turns the construction blocks kids already love into working electronic creations. Its LEGO®-compatible electronic building blocks make real electronics physical, intuitive and fun to explore.

Designed for home and classroom use, SparkBlocks combines open-ended building with structured STEM learning, helping children progress from their first circuit toward electronics, engineering, robotics and coding.

SparkBlocks is developed by Block and Code Ltd. in British Columbia, Canada.

LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO Group, which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse SparkBlocks.

Media Contact:
Mark Vaughan
SparkBlocks / Block and Code Ltd.
[email protected] 
(604) 818-9500
sparkblocks.ca 

SOURCE SparkBlocks