After a small pilot program in 2014, Connected Camps Minecraft Club has had their first 2000 campers attend the 2015 Summer of Minecraft. The LA-based program is held completely in-game, accessible to any student age 9-13 with internet and a Minecraft account. Counselors give students weekly challenges to build their skills.
Their website boasts a number of educational benefits:
- Problem-solving and design
- Advanced building techniques
- Online and web literacy
- Collaboration and community organizing
- Digital citizenship
Though this year’s Summer of Minecraft is over, the Kids Club Membership—which allows access to dedicated Minecraft servers, premium challenges and camp discounts—is available on a monthly or even yearly basis. A more advanced Afterschool Coding Camp is also available for kids age 10-14. In other words, summer camps have evolved into all-the-time camps!
Older Minecraft fans don’t have to feel left out. High school students can apply as volunteers, and college students can apply as paid counselors.
As if that wasn’t cool enough, the colorful team that founded Connected Camps is like something out of a BioWare game or ‘90s action movie.
Mimi Ito is the brains, a doctor in cultural anthropology; Katie Salen is the muscle, an animator and game designer turned educator; Tara Tiger Brown, aside from having a name that sounds like she could knock out Ronda Rousey, is an artist/hacker/technology specialist.
Together, they have created the best kids’ camp ever.
Registration is always open for Kid Club Membership. Afterschool Coding Camp is currently looking for October registrants. You can reserve a spot on their Coding Camp wait list for any month from October 2015 to May 2016.
