Sky Pods in Phnom Penh

This game is based on the book ‘Sky Pods in Phnom Penh’ which tells the story of how a young girl with great idea became a real life engineer.

SkyPods tells the story of how a young Cambodian girl comes up with inventions to help her to finish her household chores so that she can spend more time reading books which is what she loves doing best.

She searches through her house to find pieces of junk and then measures and fastens and assembles the parts to make a marvelous machine that helps her to feed the chickens, water the garden and sweep the floor. Her mum and her teacher are amazed by what she has achieved and tell her that she’s a little engineer.

When she grows up she moves to Phnom Penh and becomes a real engineer who designs the new transport: super fast tuktuks and pods that take flight – Sky Pods in Phnom Penh!

Notes for Educators and Parents:

The aim is to promote enthusiasm in children for the subjects Science, Engineering, Technology and Maths (STEM).

The Game uses images rather than words, hence is playable by those without the English language. It is aimed at children up to 10 years old. The simple drag-and-drop machine building gameplay comes naturally to today's tablet-using child.

About the Book, the inspiration for the Game:

The book is bilingual English/Khmer and is written in rhyming style. It is aimed at children in the 5-10 year age range.

The book was written by British Deputy Ambassador, Dr Bryony Mathew, and was published by Sipar. The illustrations are by Mr Seat Sopheap.

The book is available to download for free HERE: http://bit.ly/2e6uwGP (PDF, 4.66MB, 18 pages)

Dr Bryony Mathew, author of Sky Pods in Phnom Penh, and Deputy Ambassador at the British Embassy said:

"I wanted to find a way to spark an interest in STEM subjects in young children because ideas that are formed early in life can have a lasting effect on what individuals choose to do in the future. Cambodia desperately needs more STEM professionals - more public health specialists, more software programmers, and more civil engineers.

I decided to write about a young Cambodian girl living in the countryside so that local Cambodian children could relate to her and could start to believe that if she could come up with a brilliant idea and become an engineer, then why couldn’t they? My hope is that this book empowers young boys and girls, that it encourages them to use their imaginations and come up with solutions for problems.

And if it succeeds in encouraging even a handful of Cambodian children to become future engineers, then that would be a wonderful outcome."

Mr Sothik Hok, Director of Sipar said:

"The imagination and the creativities are very important elements not only for the development of children, but also for all sciences. Through its reading activities, especially through the mobile libraries, Sipar is proud to be part of the STEM project launched by the British Embassy, by being the publisher of Sky Pods in Phnom Penh."

Dawn Bonfield, Chief Executive of the Women’s Engineering Society said:

"This delightful book tells the story of how Kiri discovers that engineering is all about solving problems close to home to help get her chores done so that she can keep doing what she loves best: reading.

Engineering is in all young girls and boys and this story shows how real problems spark our imaginations to find real solutions. We hope it inspires a whole new generation of young engineering girls."

Illustrations copyright © Seat Sopheap, 2016

Funded by The British Embassy Phnom Penh

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© British Embassy Phnom Penh, 2016