Tinkering Tinkerer: Paula Bonta

Paula is a co-Founder of the Playful Invention Company (PICO). She holds a degree in computer science from her native Argentina and a graduate degree from the Education and Technology program at Harvard.

Since the mid 1980s, Paula has been developing new technologies and activities that engage children in creative learning experiences, where coding plays a central role. She is a long-time collaborator of the Lifelong Kindergarten group (LLK) at the MIT Media Lab and for several years worked as a consultant for the LEGO Company.

Paula contributed to the design of several award-winning products for children, including MicroWorlds and My Make Believe series of products from LCSI, the PicoCricket Kit and TurtleArt from PICO, and the LEGO WeDo System, LEGO Universe, and LEGO Boost from LEGO. She co-created ScratchJr with Tufts University and LLK at the MIT Media Lab, and most recently art:bit with Kids Code Jeunesse (KCJ).

Paula is a tinkerer and playful inventor at heart, who uses code as a material, and wants to encourage people to make art with code.