25% discount for our readers on full-day summer camps in Geneva!
2018 is definitely the year of technology camps! With summer approaching we’ve had lots of requests to post tech camps on our website, but what’s great is that they all have something special to offer.
And TechLabs is no exception! Launched 3 years ago in Basel by American entrepreneur, Joel Radvanyi, this rapidly growing business is now expanding into the Lake Geneva region with a series of exciting summer camps for kids. One of the few English-speaking organizations in Switzerland to offer weekly after-school classes as well as holiday camp programs, TechLabs provides students aged 8 to 16 years old the opportunity to get hands-on experience of state-of-the-art technology like 3D printers, Robot Kits, Raspberry Pi's, Apple iOS, mBlocks, Arduino, and Lego, not to mention airplane and rocket parts!
So what makes TechLabs special?
According to Joel, TechLabs offers a unique approach to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) education and holiday camps. Their modular approach focuses on real world skills so that kids experience problem solving, prototyping, and design thinking. TechLabs intructors demonstrate through their modules how the concepts that students learn can complement disciplines like math, engineering and arts as well.
As Easter approaches, many of you will be scouring the internet for activities that your kids can get involved in. Indeed, our Activities Calendar is packed with ideas for both day- and week-long camps that your kids can attend not just over the Easter holidays but summer too.
One new camp that has recently caught our attention is the Atelier ENCODE. Organized by the non-profit organisation, Wigii.org, Atelier ENCODE is a practical workshop that enables children from the age of 10 to discover coding using real-world programming languages such as Javascript and HTML / CSS.
During the week-long camp, children take control of their computers to create practical programs that reach beyond making games, something which parents tend to associate with coding camps. For example, they can create their own calculator, or program an interactive user interface for a simplified drawing program. Younger kids may prefer the challenge of programming a turtle to navigate a maze. The opportunities are endless.
For the Easter period, 3 camps are proposed, all running in the morning and priced at Fr. 325.- for 5 morning workshops:
- 3-6 April 2018: Bellevue (GE) or Gimel (VD), Tuesday to Thursday 8h45-11h30, Friday 9h45-11h30
- 9-13 April 2018: Gimel (VD) 9h45-11h30
During the summer more camps are proposed as follows:
- 9-13 July 2018: Bellevue (GE) or Gimel (VD), 9h45-11h30
- 13-17 August 2018: Bellevue (GE) or Gimel (VD), 9h45-11h30
- 20-24 August 2018: Bellevue (GE) 9h45-11h30
Photo courtesy of Bricks 4 Kidz
Whenever we receive information on camps and classes to post on our Activities Calendar for Kids, it’s always great to see hear about organizations that are trying to do something a little bit different to encourage our children to engage in new and exciting activities.
So, we were especially pleased to hear recently from two local companies, both of which have been offering classes for children for many years now, but who have decided to take up the challenge of getting more girls involved in science and technology activities, and helping them reach their full potential.
Free places for girls at Bricks 4 Kidz!
The first of these, Bricks 4 Kidz, has committed to offering one free place for a girl on every day that it runs a holiday activity at its centre in Saint. Sulpice. So in 2018, that means there are 50 free places for girls to attend one of their highly engaging camps for a day!
For those who are unfamiliar with their concept, Bricks 4 Kidz camps provide a fresh and fun way for kids aged 4 to 13 to spend their school break. Guided by experienced teachers working on themes like Amusement Parks, Space and Robotics, children use LEGO® Bricks to build specially-designed Bricks 4 Kidz models, play LEGO® games and explore the world of engineering, architecture and animated movie-making.
Annie STEDMAN, Manager of the Swiss Romande region, told knowitall.ch, “Although International Women's Day is celebrated on the 8th March, we believe that it is an ongoing commitment to stand up for equal opportunities. We want to encourage girls to take an interest in S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) so that they have the same opportunities as boys to access a career in science and technology.”
A new series of workshops has been launched in Geneva, which combines the use of modern technology with traditional DIY techniques to create interesting, creative and useful objects for everyday use.
Created by the association, Onl’Fait, the 2-to 3-hour long workshops provide a fun, educational Fabrication Laboratory (FabLab) environment where anybody – children, adults, artists, and the simply curious – can learn, make, share, fix, create, teach, fail, tinker and reflect on a sustainable approach to science and technology.
Asked why they decided to set up the new workshops in Geneva, Cristina Olivotto, Secretary of the association, told knowitall.ch, “Onl'Fait opened in Geneva towards the end of last year to answer a growing interest towards the maker movement - a technology-based extension of the traditional DIY culture.”
She continued, “Our workshops represent just one of the many new services that we plan to offer to the public over the coming months. Our FabLab aims to provide an affordable place where people can come and share the technical, technological and human resources that we have made available – be they machines, tools, software, processes, knowledge or mentors – to conceive, create or repair all manner of objects. As our network of members grows, so will the range of services that we can share and offer to others.”
by Tim Phillips
“Kids sometimes think computer science is boring and complicated, so why do it when they can play soccer?” Marta Gehring, the co-founder and CEO of TechSpark Academy, jokes. “My mission is to open their eyes.”
Based in Lausanne, TechSpark Academy’s mission is to expose students to coding in a fun, interactive way during school vacations. The Academy uses the best student instructors to spark their excitement and give them the skill they will need in the future. Last year’s students came away from it calling it “interesting”, “awesome”, “informative” and “cool”.
Marta, who is an innovation marketing consultant and a trainer for Switzerland’s Committee for Technological Innovation (CTI), was inspired to create TechSpark Academy after seeing her 14-year-old daughter’s attitude to coding transformed by a similar summer course in the US. “At first she said she didn’t want to go, but on the first day she came back and she was very excited. She had already programmed a turtle to crawl from one edge of the screen to the other, and she was even talking about computer code at dinner.”
Why attend a TechSpark Academy Camp?
The Academy’s Easter or summer camps in Lausanne or Geneva are some of the most inspiring fun kids can have while you’re learning. “By the second day the kids are beginning to program for themselves. For example, they can use a language called Swift to make a game, and then play it on their own iPhone,” Marta says, “or they can build robots, and program them to avoid obstacles.”
