As school wraps up for the year, many parents are looking for ways to keep their kids active and learning over the summer – myself included!

If you’re kids are between the ages of 8-13, you’ve gotta check out the great camps coming to 58 Microsoft Stores around the country. Taking place June through August, camps include programming designed to teach kids computer science skills in fun and engaging ways like learning how to build, publish and bring mobile games to life as well as produce and design their own digital movies.

What Can Kids Learn? 

• Coding — Learn the kid-friendly visual programming language Kodu to learn how creativity, problem solving, storytelling, and programming come together to make something all their own. An intro to TouchDevelop, a mobile app creation platform with a touch-based editor that makes coding from phones or tablets.

• Photos — Learn new tricks for taking great photos from phones. Get hands-on instruction on how to edit photos, adjust lighting and colors, and even apply filters for more effects. Beyond basic images,  build interactive worlds in Photosynth, make yourself into art with Photo Fuse, and create huge panoramas with Gigipixel ArtZoom.

• Movies — Unleash your imagination and start making real movies right from your phone or tablet. Using Windows Phone and Surface Pro, learn how to produce, direct, design and animate your own flicks, any time you want. Get ready to impress and share your masterpieces with your family and friends!

What I especially love about these camps are that parents are included to participate too. Parents can learn alongside their kids and during the camp session, parents get a 30-minute breakaway session to delve deeper into the programs so that they can help their children continue to learn once they get home.

Where Do I Sign Up?

From my understanding, many stores are getting close to capacity, so hurry and sign up soon! Go to MicrosoftStore.com/SummerCamps to sign your child up for a great learning experience!   I can’t wait until my girls are old enough to participate too.

For the latest Microsoft Store news, follow along on Twitter at @MicrosoftStore and check out the Microsoft Store on Facebook too.

 What camp would your child like to attend? 

 

**I am a member of the Windows Champions blogger program. As part of this arrangement, I am loaned products over the course of year and have the opportunity to learn about Windows and Microsoft products. I’m also excited to share information with you.**