PayPal – Its Coding Time!
Every School Holiday, I rejoice cos I get to sleep in just a little bit more! Yet, there’s a struggle to work out stuff for the kids to do to occupy them. It’s hard to take leave day after day to watch over them and even if I do, there’s only so many cookies to bake, and cycling trips to go on! Then along comes a *FREE* 3 Day class for the kids and teaching them something that is relevant in today’s digital world—Coding!
Early this month, Nathan and Nadine had passes to attend the annual holiday activity event organized by PayPal. Nicole went for the camp last year and totally enjoyed herself. So it was without hesitation when we signed up for the other two!
This year’s 3-day camp was conducted by SG Code Campus, a popular coding school for kids and it was held in the uber-cool PayPal office in Suntec. Now this is the bit that all working parents would appreciate. For the 3 days, we just had to drop the kids off at PayPal office at 8.30 a.m. and pick them up at 6 p.m.! They provide yummy and healthy breakfast daily (I still recall the kids raving about the smoked salmon sandwich from Day 2!) and they serve equally delicious lunches. The 30-kids class is held in this huge meeting room that’s next to the well-stocked pantry! Hahaha… this is a huge plus for my kids!
So how was the camp? Here’s a breakdown from what we hear from the kids. (Parents are not allowed! We only get to see the final presentation on the last day. (More about that later!)
Day 1: They get a short introduction to technology, specifically programming. The kids are put in groups of 5-6 and each group has to do a little programming project. At the point, both Nathan and Nadine refused to tell me what their project entails. They told me they learnt SCRATCH and Micro:bit and how fun the sessions were. They were eager to continue the next day, and were bugging me to get them to the office early!
30 kids divided into 5 groups Photo by: PayPal
Day 2: Again, they refuse to tell me, but I hear snippets of the problems they had with some bird they created. Apparently, the bird has to fly up to avoid some chimney like Super Mario. And they also had the chance to visit the Paypal office, and it was an eye-opener to see a tech company. Bottom line, they were raving about breakfast and lunch again! Hahaha!
Ohh and they were excited to meet their friends to continue the project!
Many opportunities to work with different ones!
Day 3: Parents are invited to view all the projects that the kids have been worked on. Nathan’s and Nadine’s group did a project using algorithms and conditionals and variables. (ok, every group did, but so impressive ya?) It was a game that blew our minds when we watched the presentation. Check it out!
Presenting Flappy Bird!
When we saw the other groups, we were so impressed! We saw some groups with games, some with little chip boards because their project was using Micro:bit. Check out what they gave out, and they created a voting app so we can use the micro:bit chip to vote! so cool!
Upside Down… but the lights tell a story!
It was amazing what these 9-11 yr olds came up with in 3 days! I am most impressed cos the husband and I are not IT trained, (no one in our family is) yet I recognise that is is vital our kids have at least a glimpse into the Tech world and what it can create. After all, Singapore is going the Smart Nation way, we do need Smart citizens to keep it going ya?
I am thankful for this opportunity for the kids to cultivate their interest in technology. These are great little seeds of IT deposited in the kids! And during the school hols too! Look out for next year’s programme! We would definitely want to be a part of it again!
The smiles sum up how they feel!
Check out the summary video by PayPal!
PayPal SG – Kids in Tech 5-7 Sep 2017
See what these kids got up to at PayPal's first #KidsinTech camp in Singapore!As Singapore continues its drive towards a Smart Nation, PayPal is proud to play a part in cultivating our children's interest in technology and equipping the next generation of technopreneurs, innovators, computer scientists and programmers with the requisite skills.
Posted by PayPal on Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Disclaimer: We were given two slots for the kids to participate in the camp for review purposes. All opinions are my own and no monetary compensation was given.
