Sugar Labs Inc
About Sugar Labs Inc
Sugar Labs makes free, open-source learning software and curricula for children who learn best by doing. With tools for programming, computational thinking, music, math, and problem-solving, it gives learners a place to make, test, and share ideas, often with help from volunteers, teachers, and other learners. If you care about education that leaves room for curiosity and student voice, this is the kind of work that holds up in the real world.
What sets Sugar Labs apart is the way its tools are built for collaboration, journaling, and what it calls hard fun. The software is made for children to create with, and it can run in a browser, from a USB, on desktop machines, and on Raspberry Pi. That flexibility makes the learning environment feel practical, not precious.
Programs
The concrete work this nonprofit runs. Each program may later become a fundable project.
Sugar Learning Platform
The core learning environment, with tools and curricula designed for collaborative, project-based learning.
Sugar on a Stick (SoaS)
A USB version of the Sugar platform that can boot temporarily or be installed on a computer.
Music Blocks
A browser-based visual programming environment for exploring music, math, and programming together.
Turtle Blocks
Snap-together coding blocks for creating colorful art, geometry, graphics, and math explorations.
Google Summer of Code (GSoC)
A community development program that brings student developers into free/libre/open source software work.
About this work
In their own words — what they do, who it reaches, and what your dollars actually fund.
Mission
Sugar Labs is dedicated to creating learning tools that transform how children learn and explore technology, and it creates quality software and curricula under a free/libre/open-source license that encourages collaborative learning and creativity.
Who they serve
Children, youth, teachers, and budding developers around the world.
Their impact
- 3,000,000+ kids whose lives have been enriched by using the Sugar Learning Platform
- 344+ projects for teaching and learning created by Sugar Labs students and teachers
- 1,450+ problem-solving tasks completed by students ages 13-17
- 11,531,321+ activities downloaded
- 170 languages the educational software has been translated into
- 50% of updates to the latest release came directly from users
- Created over 300 tools for learning
- Mentored students for thousands of hours
How your donation helps
- Create and maintain innovative tools for teaching and learning
- Mentor budding developers from around the world
- Support the development and distribution of activity-focused software for children
Our story
Sugar Labs was founded in 2008, building on the Sugar Learning Platform first developed in 2006 for the One Laptop per Child program, which grew out of the MIT Media Lab. It later became a standalone nonprofit in 2020 and has continued developing learning software with a community of teachers, learners, developers, and volunteers.
In their words
"Learning with Sugar is something a child does, not something that is done to or for a child."
"Knowledge is a noun, learning is a verb."
"Learning is hard fun."
Ways to help
Concrete needs and volunteer roles Sugar Labs Inc has shared.
Current needs
- Sustained volunteer help in education, communication, advocacy, research, and technical roles
Volunteer opportunities
- Use Sugar software and lesson plans in a classroom and try the Constructionism learning tools
- Test software and give educator feedback
- Create lesson plans for other teachers to use in the classroom
- Share student or former student stories in blog posts or videos
- Create and test translations
- Help spread awareness by following and sharing the organization's social media messages
Recognition & press
Press & mentions
Partners & funders
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about this nonprofit and how its work happens.
What is Sugar?
Sugar is a collection of hundreds of tools that introduce children to programming, computational thinking, and problem-solving. There is no set curriculum, and the focus stays on debugging and project-based learning.
How can learners use Sugar?
Learners can use Sugar in the browser with Sugarizer, from a bootable USB drive with Sugar on a Stick, as a desktop or laptop installation, on Raspberry Pi, or through Flatpak.
What is Music Blocks?
Music Blocks is a browser-based visual programming environment for exploring music, math, and programming together.
How can volunteers help?
Volunteers can support the work in education, communication, advocacy, research, and technical roles. That includes testing software, creating lesson plans, and translating materials.
What makes Sugar different?
It puts a lot of weight on collaborative learning, sharing, journaling, free/libre software, and student contributions guided by mentors.
Similar nonprofits
Other human service organizations nonprofits in TX.