strandbeest fossilstrandbeest fossilstrandbeest fossilstrandbeest fossilstrandbeest fossilstrandbeest fossilstrandbeest fossilstrandbeest fossilstrandbeest fossilstrandbeest fossilstrandbeest fossilstrandbeest fossilstrandbeest fossilstrandbeest fossilstrandbeest fossilstrandbeest fossilstrandbeest fossilstrandbeest fossil
Strandbeest on the beach Hack Club

BUILD A BEEST

Code a project, Fly to the Netherlands, Build a mechanical animal!

What is this?

Beest is a Hack Club program. A Beest (Strandbeest) is a sail powered mechanical animal constructed of just fabric, plastic pipes, zip ties and recycled plastic bottles. I think they are the coolest thing ever, and if you agree, you can join me in building one! Everything (including flights, food and accommodation) is totally free for teenagers who qualify by building a project. From [Date] to [Date] you and [X] teens will fly to the Netherlands to build a StrandBeest, present it to the creator of strandbeests and watch him exhibit the full collection!

How does this work?

First, join the Hack Club Slack and introduce yourself to a community of teenage makers from around the world. Hang out, learn from peers and make friends who share your passion for building things. Then, build and ship an open source software or hardware project - it's beginner friendly with guides I promise. Once you qualify, we'll fly you out to the Netherlands where you and your new found friends will spend [z] days constructing our own Strandbeest! We will also be there to witness the walking of the beests - Theo Jansen (the original artist behind strand-beests) will be displaying his full collection.

Join the Hack Club community
Join the Hack Club community
Learn from peers and make friends
Learn from peers and make friends
Build an open source project
Build an open source project
Fly to the Netherlands
Fly to the Netherlands
Build a Beest
Build a Beest
Stick around for the community
Stick around for the community

Is Hack Club for real?

Yes - and we do this kind of stuff all the time! Hack Club is a non-profit organization and a community of 100k+ teenage makers. We run events online and in-person that reward people making open source projects. Thanks to our donors we are always running crazy events at no cost for teens. Previously we ran;

three cards showing past hackathons

Am I Eligible?

If you are a teen, yes! The only criteria is being a teenager and building a real open-source software/hardware project for Y hours. We can help you get a visa, cover the cost of your flight or hop on a call with parents! If you aren't sure, join the slack and ask - and if you can't make it, stay for the community! Hack Club is much bigger than Beest, we run events like this every few weeks!

I can't make it :/

You can still win! Alongside the event you can get prizes for logging hours. We will have a shop packed with rewards like laptops, tablets, headphones and merch. These will be delivered straight to you and require no money transfer! Everything is earned just by working on a project. You can see some of the prize selection here ↓