Coding for Kids Workshop Day
CascadiaJS and Microsoft are co-hosting a Coding for Kids workshop at the Microsoft Reactor in South Lake Union. This event is inspired by a cool experience that a local 2nd grader had learning to code and collecting dev stickers this past summer. The goal of this event is to introduce area kids to coding in a welcoming and fun environment. We will have a bunch of different workshops targeted at different age groups, so there should be something for everybody. Here are some important details:
| Date | Saturday, Nov 17 |
|---|---|
| Ages | See workshops below |
| Supervision | This is NOT a drop-off event. You must be in the building the entire time your child is here. |
| Cost | FREE, with a suggested donation of $5 going to the Tech Access Foundation. |
| Location | Microsoft Reactor Seattle, 320 Westlake Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109 |
| Parking | Parking validated at 321 Terry parking garage |
| Code of Conduct | All attendees must abide by the Microsoft Reactor Code of Conduct |
| Food & Drinks | Coffee and Lunch will be provided, courtesy of Microsoft Reactor. |
| What to Bring | PLEASE bring a laptop for each child. We will have some on-site loaners, but they will be in limited supply. |
| Other Activites | Aside from coding workshops, we will have an area set-up for kids to hang out and play. We will have books, games and drawing materials on-site for kids to use. |
Schedule
| 9:00am | Doors Open & Coffee | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:30am | Kick-off Event | |||
| 10:00am | Making Art in the Browser | Build a Game with Roblox | Intro to Programming Using Scratch | |
| 12:30pm | Lunch | |||
| 1:30pm | Tessel Photo-Tweeter | JSQuest | How to Train a Robot | |
| 4:00pm | Wrap-up & Raffle | |||
| 4:30pm | Doors Close | |||
Workshops
Tessel Photo-Tweeter
Description: Build a portable photo-bot that takes pictures and posts them to Twitter! Start by making a social-media-happy robot, then build from there: Can you @-tweet to it to ask it for a photo? What if you could make it take a picture by clapping? What if it did something right before taking the picture that made the photo subjects react? What if it took a picture every 4 seconds, like a time lapse? Extra hardware/sensors will be around, and so will mentors. What will you build?
Recommended age range: Middle school and up. No prior experience with software or hardware required. But for the pros, this workshop is designed to let you set your own challenge!
Required Equipment: A laptop (not a Chromebook) that can connect to Wi-Fi, ideally with Node (LTS) pre-installed.
Making Art in the Browser
Description: Using code to make cool stuff: A fun introduction! P5.js is a JavaScript library used by artists and designers to make art, visual designs, animations and more. In this workshop you will learn to program interactive shapes and patterns, right in the browser! Make your own experimental creations that you can share with your friends online.
Recommended age range: Recommended for middle school and up. No prior experience with software required.
Required Equipment: A laptop that can connect to Wi-Fi.
JSQuest
Description: In JSQuest, students will level up their skills in JavaScript through a series of progressively more challenging coding exercises. As students advance through their quest, they will receive experience points and loot to deck out their own virtual avatar in TwilioQuest, an online training platform built by Twilio. There may even be some rad real-world loot for some adventurers...
Recommended age range: 10+
Required Equipment: Students will need their own laptop with a modern web browser installed. Ideally, parents should also sign up for a Twilio account their student can use to log into TwilioQuest to track their progress. A Twilio account (and the associated TwilioQuest user) is not strictly necessary to participate, but it will make the experience more fun if the student can track their growth inside the game.
Build a Game with Roblox
Description: Roblox is ushering in the next generation of entertainment, allowing people to imagine, create, and play together in immersive, user-generated 3D worlds. Learn to create and code your own games using the free tools made available by Roblox. This is a perfect course for first time game developers.
In this session you’ll learn how to make an obby, short for obstacle course. In this game genre, players have to jump from one place to another while avoiding obstacles to get to the end of a level.
Recommended age range: 10-12
Required Equipment: Fully charged laptop running Windows or Mac OS, Roblox Studio and a Roblox user account (all free)
Intro to Programming Using Scratch
Description: In this workshop, we will go over the basic concepts of how to make a computer program using Scratch. Scratch, by MIT, allows students to drag and drop logic blocks in a visual interface to create a program. The program comes to life using sprites, backgrounds, and sounds on a stage. By manipulating the order of the logic blocks and their configuration values, students will be able to create an animated story to share with their friends and family.
Recommended age range: Grades 1-4, no prior programming experience needed. Participants need to be able to read and do basic addition and subtraction.
Required Equipment: A laptop with a web browser and Adobe Flash installed. Optionally, parents can create an account on Scratch so students can save their work.
How to Train a Robot
Description: In this workshop we will introduce kids to the wonderful world of personal robots and how to train (program) them. They will learn how to program a robot using Blockly, make it move, recognize faces and give it a personality.
Recommended age range: 6 and up
Required Equipment: Laptop with wifi, able to access http://blockly.mistyrobotics.com/
Event Sponsor
Raffle Sponsor
Loaner Laptop Sponsor
Sticker Sponsors
