How to motivate young kids for MakeFest

Most parents with kids around age 10 don't think about suggesting to start a computer course. And there are few kids that age constantly asking "When can I finally learn about computers?"

Instead of putting computers at the center to get young kids interested, I am proposing a different approach:

Look, there is this group of teenagers that build an advent calender game on the internet. Would you like to help them? You could test the 24 levels of the game and let them know what you like and don't like. And since everyone is from different schools, everything happens on the computer and you could learn how to use a computer at the same time.

Testing levels is fun and motivating but also offers much value: observation, evaluation, articulation and collaboration. And without even noticing, the participants acquire the necessary skills to contribute themselves, a little later, to the design and construction of these levels.

The game serves as a point of convergence bringing together the girls and boys across the differences of age, interests, schools and countries.

Of course, participants also learn technical skills in the courses, like managing their passwords, that are important but not necessarily very interesting by themselves. But the courses make it interesting by not following traditional teaching. As much as possible, I invite participants to observe, read, evaluate and decide by themselves. This way, the courses become an exploration full of discovery and sense of achievement.

My role is therefore to accompany the participants, to make sure everything works out all right and to help them discover, apply and develop their capabilities.