An afterschool program for tweens

Your students.
Real problems.
Real solutions.

Kikku Labs gives 12–14 year olds the tools to tackle real community challenges — using design thinking, user research, and modern technology. We partner with schools worldwide and handle everything: curriculum, local teacher hiring, and remote training.

Partner with us See how it works ↓

Cities launching Fall 2025

Facilitators per 10 students

Curriculum prep for your team

The program

A semester of real problem-solving

Students work in teams of 4–5 on a challenge sourced from a local business or community organization. Each month, they produce a real deliverable — not a school project.

Weeks 1–3

Understand

What is the problem, really? Students observe, interview, and reframe before jumping to answers.

Weeks 4–6

Validate

Form hypotheses. Test assumptions with the people actually affected. Evidence drives direction.

Weeks 7–9

Get Feedback

Share early ideas with the partner. Listen, revise, iterate. The first idea is never the final one.

Weeks 10–12

Build & Deliver

Refine the solution into something usable. Present back to the community partner with evidence.

Community challenges

Real briefs. Real stakeholders.

Every semester, Kikku Labs sources 2–3 challenges from local organizations in your city. Students choose a team and a brief, then spend the semester going deep — talking to real people, building real solutions, and delivering real recommendations.

These aren't made-up scenarios. Partners range from small local businesses to nonprofits to cultural institutions — organizations that actually want the output students produce.

Local Business

"How might we turn first-time visitors into regulars without losing what makes us special?"

A neighbourhood bakery wants to build community loyalty beyond just foot traffic.

Students deliver: A customer journey map, three tested concepts, and a recommended approach backed by real customer interviews.

Nonprofit

"How might we reach families who need us most but don't know we exist?"

A local food bank is struggling to connect with underserved households in new neighbourhoods.

Students deliver: An outreach strategy prototype, tested messaging concepts, and a distribution plan mapped to the community.

Community Space

"How might we make teenagers feel like this place belongs to them?"

A public library branch wants teens to see it as more than a place to study.

Students deliver: A redesigned teen programming concept, co-created with real teens, ready to pilot.

Cultural Institution

"How might we reduce food waste at our weekly market without changing what vendors love about it?"

A farmers market coordinator wants solutions that vendors will actually adopt.

Students deliver: Three tested intervention concepts with vendor feedback, and a recommended pilot to run next season.

Civic Org

"How might we help elderly residents navigate new city services they weren't designed for?"

A community centre wants to bridge the gap between seniors and digital government tools.

Students deliver: A guided walkthrough prototype, tested with real seniors, with recommendations for the centre's staff.

How we source challenges in your city. Kikku Labs identifies and onboards local partner organizations before the semester begins. Partners receive a validated, usable output at the end of the semester — not a school project, but something they can actually act on.

What Kikku Labs provides

You bring the students.
We handle the rest.

Kikku Labs is designed to be low-lift for schools. Your team doesn't build or run anything.

Full curriculum, delivered

Every session is planned, sequenced, and ready to run. Facilitators receive detailed guides, challenge briefs, and feedback frameworks — no preparation required from your staff.

Local teacher hiring & remote training

We recruit and vet facilitators in your city — education graduates, experienced youth workers, and community educators. All training is handled remotely by Kikku Labs before the first session.

Community partner sourcing

We connect with local businesses and organizations to source the semester's challenges. Your students get real briefs from real stakeholders in your community — not made-up scenarios.

What students learn

Skills that show up in college essays, job interviews, and real life

Students use the same frameworks and tools that designers, product teams, and community organizers use every day.

Problem-solving frameworks

Design Thinking

Empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test. Students learn to lead with questions, not answers.

User Research

Interviews, observation, surveys. Students go talk to real people before forming any solution.

Structured Feedback

Critique and iteration as a discipline. The first idea is never the final one.

Modern toolkit

CanvaVisual design & presentations

Lovable / Bolt.newAI-assisted rapid prototyping

ChatGPT / ClaudeResearch, synthesis, brainstorming

Miro / FigJamCollaborative visual thinking

Notion / GammaProject docs & presentations

Partnership model

Built to work in any school, any city

Kikku Labs adapts to your school's schedule, grade levels, and community — wherever you are.

Flexible grade level. Designed for grades 7–8, adaptable to 9–10. Challenge scope and output expectations adjust by age group.

Flexible timing. Weekly sessions of 1.5–2 hours. We work around your school's schedule and start time.

Monthly or semester. Default format produces a deliverable each month. Schools can opt into a full semester arc for deeper projects.

Local facilitators, remote training. We hire and train educators in your city — no sourcing required from your team.

Revenue share. Partner schools receive 50% of program revenue in exchange for providing space and helping fill student demand.

A global student network. Your students connect with Kikku cohorts in other cities — tracking projects and tackling cross-city challenges together.

Program pricing

^$300

per student · per month · USD

Cohort size10–20 students

SessionsWeekly, 1.5–2 hrs

Facilitators3 per 10 students

School revenue share50% of fees

Curriculum & trainingIncluded

Community challengesSourced by Kikku

Founding partner discount available for pilot schools joining Fall 2025.

Where we're launching

Two cities. One shared community.

Our Fall 2025 pilots launch simultaneously in San Francisco and Toronto, so students connect and collaborate from day one.

San Francisco — Fall 2025

San Francisco, CA

Partnering with private and public schools

Working with schools across SF to bring Kikku Labs to Bay Area students. Community challenge partners include local businesses, nonprofits, and civic organizations.

Toronto — Fall 2025

Toronto, ON

Partnering with ARC (Asian Roots Collective)

Our Toronto pilot runs through ARC, one of the city's most recognized youth community organizations — supported by Jeremy Lin Basketball School, Simu Liu, and major corporate sponsors.

About the founder

Cindy Yang

Founder, Kikku Labs · Director of Product Growth

"I believe the future is in the hands of the next generation. I want to make sure they're equipped to help us shape the best future possible."

Cindy is an educator and product builder with 10+ years designing learning experiences for kids. She holds an M.Ed from Harvard Graduate School of Education (2015) and has built programs and products used by millions of young learners worldwide. Kikku Labs is the program she's always wanted to exist.

Scratch (MIT Media Lab) — Helped facilitate the Family Creative Learning Workshop, bringing hands-on creative tech education to kids and parents together.

codeSpark (Begin Learning) — Built and launched project-based coding classes for ages 5–8, generating $1M in Year 1 revenue.

ARC Toronto — Co-designed and ran the Coding Melons workshop for kids in the Asian Roots Collective community.

Harvard Graduate School of Education, M.Ed 2015 — Specialized in learning design and educational technology.

Earlier: McKinsey & Company, Indeed, Spin Master Digital Games, HarvardX.

Your students.Real problems.Real solutions.