This is a beginner level workshop for girls 8-13 years old and their parent/guardian/aunt/older sibling.   

Bring a special girl in your life to this workshop on National Girls Learning Code Day and learn how to bring stories to life with Scratch! Note: this workshop is BYOL so each parent or guardian/youth pair is required to bring one laptop on the day of the workshop. 

What is National Girls Learning Code Day?

On May 13th, 2017, Girls Learning Code is hosting its fourth annual National Girls Learning Code Day. On that day, hundreds of Canadians girls and their parents will come together to challenge themselves to learn a new skill: digital storytelling & animation! 

Together with their parents, girls will:

- Discover a passion for learning about technology

- Experience the satisfaction that comes from being a builder of technology

- Create an animated story using coding tools and concepts

- Build confidence and develop a willingness to try new things

The Workshop:

From Saturday morning cartoons to blockbuster films, animating has the power to inspire, educate, and entertain. Traditionally, animation involves drawing several pictures, sometimes thousands, then playing them in sequence to create the illusion of movement.. Today, we have digital tools that help us create animations more easily by letting us control characters, backgrounds, and even sounds with code.

This experience offers girls the opportunity to express their creativity in a super fun environment, and learn about the different elements of a story, as well as character interaction and basic design principles. Each Animating with Scratch workshop has the same flow, but different activities. Come and create a new animation every time!

Using Scratch, a beginner level programming environment, girls will create interactive stories through animation. Girls will also be introduced to Scratch's amazing online community, sloganed: "Imagine, Program, Share," where they will have the opportunity to upload their stories for others to enjoy!

What is Girls Learning Code?
Founded by the same women who introduced Ladies Learning Code in 2011, Girls Learning Code is less about “code” and more about changing the world – through teamwork, creativity, and, of course, technology.

What Makes Girls Learning Code Different?
Girls Learning Code has been designed specifically with girls in mind, by the team who founded Ladies Learning Code. When developing plans and curriculum for workshops, we keep in mind a recurrent theme in research on gender and technology: girls approach the computer as a “tool” useful primarily for what it can do; boys more often view the computer as a “toy” or an extension of the self. Thus, the theme of workshops are “Changing the World” and how technology can be used as the means, not the end.

What parents say about Girls Learning Code:
“My daughter went to the camp without a clear understanding of what a tech camp for girls was but was pleasantly surprised by the experience. She enjoyed every single day at the camp and showed great enthusiasm about the topic she and her group chose to present. I would not hesitate to send her to another tech camp with LLC whenever the opportunity arises.”

“My daughter wasn’t sold on the idea of attending a “technology camp” for March Break. By the second day she was raving about how much fun she was having AND how much she was learning. What a great combination!”

“I learned about Girls Learning Code from the Toronto Star. I looked into it and I thought it was such a great opportunity for my daughter to be exposed in the field of technology. I was really happy that she went to Girls Learning Code because she was introduced to different programming languages, exposed to companies like Google and Mozilla and had to work with different girls she’s never met before. I wish my older daughter who is now in first year university had the same opportunity as her sister.”

“This was a great iniative that is needed to encourage females to become leaders in computer technology field. It was inspiring for my daughter to visit Google, to see a modern office space, to see a bilingual women in a leading position at Google. This camp provided a perspective to girls that they not only can play and use technology, they can design, create and become leaders in technology.”

“My daughter had a blast, the other campers were a great bunch of girls, they learned, grew and had fun. The venue was well chosen, the balance of activities was good. The extra little touches of caring were noticable and appreciated. The camp was down to earth and unpretentious but the counsellors took their jobs seriously. A+. I will recommend to other parents.”