As businesses and consumers adjust to new tariffs, one Longmont toy manufacturer is focusing on giving students more ways to unleash their creativity.

Zometool, which is based in Longmont, makes building components for geometric models. One of the company’s “STEAM kits” contains hundreds of plastic balls and struts, which fit together to build an endless assortment of shapes and designs.

Naturally, the Zometool components are a big hit with kids.

“I have never seen kids fail to be fascinated by these,” said Mike Stranahan, a Zometool board member. “We think every kid on the planet deserves to get his hands on these things.”

In April, Zometool was preparing to send 100 STEAM kits to China when U.S. exports to the country were hit with an 84% tariff. Zometool founder Paul Hildebrandt said he’s not expecting to be able to sell the kits to China for another four years.

The company could have found new buyers for the canceled shipment, but Zometool decided to take a different approach. In an effort to make their educational toys more accessible, the company is giving the kits to teachers for free.

Over the past week, Zometool has fielded applications from teachers who want to use the Zometool toys in their classrooms. The company spread the word about the giveaway through its mailing list, encouraging people to nominate teachers for the giveaway, as well.As of Thursday, 75 of the 100 STEAM kits, which have a retail price tag of over $500 apiece, have already been claimed by teachers. The Zometool team plans to start shipping the kits next week.

“We just wanted to be inclusive,” Hildebrandt said. “Everyone who applied is getting a kit.”

Hildebrandt said Zometool has a presence in roughly 4,000 schools internationally. For the giveaway, one local applicant mentioned that they wanted to use the STEAM kit for community events at the Boulder and Longmont libraries.

In their applications, teachers explained how their classrooms would benefit from the STEAM kits. Kindergarten through high school instructors wrote that the kits would help them teach math, art and engineering concepts.

One applicant mentioned that the STEAM kit could even be used to design scale models of sets for the school’s annual musical.

“The teachers said, ‘Yes, we want this. We want to do this with our kids,’” Stranahan explained. “So, we’re going to see that they get it.”

Luke Collier, who works for Zometool, grew up with the toys. Collier previously used the components to build an atomic model of a DNA molecule for his 10th-grade biology class.

“I definitely credit my ability to think visually and spatially to it,” Collier said of Zometool.

The kits are going fast, but Hildebrant said he hopes some St. Vrain Valley School District teachers will be able to claim a few. To apply, visit bit.ly/4jRa7nD.