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Ask HN: How do I go about making a coding camp for kids?

7 points by neil_macintyre ↗ HN
Earlier this week there was a post about Scratch and a lot of people touched upon programs that they were involved in that helped to teach kids the basics of coding. I have been thinking about running a coding course for middle schools over the summer and have some questions before I contact the library I hope to do it at.

1: How did you pitch the idea to the place you ran the event at and advertise to the students? 2: How did you go about installing the necessary tools on their laptops? While the online block languages seem like they might be a good, foundational first week lesson, as I plan on targeting in the middle school age range I feel they would get a little more out of python or javascript. I am looking for solutions that may be a bridge the gap, preferably a block language that converts into text javascript that can make games, with only minimal success. I might try to build my own using googles blockly and phaser.js but I am not sure I will be able to get it up in time. 3: What, if any, curriculum did you use? How many classes did you have and how long were they? 4: How much time did it take. I am a junior in highschool, so it should not be too big of a deal over the summer; ideally though I would not want to be spending more than 10 hrs a week planning lessons. 5: Overall how was the experience for you and your students? And is there anything that you would have done differently?

6 comments

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primitivesuave
I have been running coding camps for kids for the last 5 years (techlabeducation.com). It's a highly rewarding experience and when executed correctly, can be very lucrative. To answer your questions:

1. Find a location that is not well-served. There are hundreds of coding camps in Silicon Valley, and you'd have a difficult time marketing. I have a friend who started a coding camp in a more remote city of around 100,000 people - he had the only technology camp (every other summer program was an art, music, or outdoor camp) and had no issues with convincing the local library to rent him space, or profitably run the camp. Most importantly, he provided an experience to kids who would otherwise not get one.

2. Don't try to build your own tools until you are sure you can deliver them. We promised a bunch of online videos to parents about 2 years ago, before I realized it takes around an hour of work for each minute of final video. Just like with any business, see what tools are already out there (there are many) before building your own. One of the most successful tools to come out of my summer program was pythonroom.com, which is now used in schools around the world.

3. You can find free curriculum online for any subject you cover. A good idea is to write down an exact lesson plan for each class you want to teach in a Google Doc so you can easily share it with any instructors you hire.

4. It's a full time job to get any business started. You're not going to have much success starting a camp at this point since most kids are already signed up, but it's a great project for next year and I'm sure you can have a profitable summer camp up for the summer before you go to college.

5. The experience was great and gave me tremendous insight into education technology. If I had to do it again, I would try to automate the customer acquisition process and keep overhead as low as possible.

Send me an email at keshav@techlabeducation.com if you have any more questions!

neil_macintyre
Thanks so much for the advice. I will be sure to contact you if I have any more questions:)
godelski
My coworker and I have been talking about doing an after school program. I've taught for college kids in a scientific programming class, but not younger kids.

Are there subjects that you find help keep them motivated? I figured simple games like hangman could be easy, but I'm unsure how quick the kids will take to the subject and how to keep that age group interested. Any suggestions?

thejteam
Make sure to contact the pertinent government office in your area that regulates child care. Summer camps, even those for middle schoolers, generally fall under their umbrella. Get all of the certifications you need and know what the requirements are for your instructors. Make sure your location will meet all of their requirements.

If possible, avoid this by teaming with a center that already has these certifications.

1ba9115454
Depending on the age of the child you might want to look at unity3d. It's a game writing environment. Perhaps you're looking at kids 9 or over for this.

My thinking is the kids will be super interested as they can write a small game and the environment is complete and free with lots of tutorials.