What is the school about?
Ruby goes to camp! Hello Ruby Summer School is a 2-week day camp for 6 to 9 year-old kids. Together we will learn about technology, programming and computational thinking through play!
Building the makers of tomorrow
Our world is increasingly built on software, and we need more diversity in the people building it. Every kid deserves to discover the world of computers in a delightful and encouraging way.
Technology education at Hello Ruby Summer Camp is always cleverly woven into real-world context and presented through stories. This makes learning both meaningful and motivating! Our curriculum promotes 21st century skills like communication, critical thinking and problem-solving. We value and encourage friendship, creative confidence and hands-on building.
A delightful learning environment
Hello Ruby Summer School offers a delightful, engaging and safe learning environment for children. We provide individual guidance, and never have more than 5 kids per teacher. There are no grades here, only a love of learning, working together with new friends, and bringing great ideas to life. Most of our activities are unplugged, as we believe there's plenty to learn in programming and technology before showing children a single screen.
- Why can computers help us in recycling? And what can trash bins teach us about sorting algorithms?
- What happens when you program your own Mars rover and set it out on it’s first scientific mission?
- How art and algorithms are alike?
Camps in Summer 2016
In Summer 2016, Hello Ruby Summer Camps are available in Helsinki (Finland). Hello Ruby Summer School is a 2-week camp for kids aged 6-9 at Annantalo, 6th - 17th June, from 9 to 15:30. The camp will be held both in English and Finnish. Spots for the camp in 2016 are full, but you can still sign up for the waiting list. Admission letters will be sent by the end of April.
The kids taking part in Ruby’s Summer School will also have an important role in our research. This is why parents will be asked to sign a waiver to allow us to collect and use data in our work. More information on the research we do is explained in the applications form.
We’re very excited to be hosting our first camp. For this round, we have 30 spots open. In the future, we hope to be learning together with many more kids! For those who apply but can’t be taken in, we will have a few open workshops during Summer.
Are you interested in joining us for the camp or one of the open workshops? Check out the contact form at bottom of this page!
Topics for the week
The summer camp revolves around a core narrative storyline embedded with themes that we feel are relevant for the children to understand the world in a deeper manner. These themes include things like work, food, computers, recycling. Each theme consists of exercises that have been built around each of the themes.
The exercises have been designed to be fun, intriguing and challenging at the same time. Computational thinking skills can be identified in the exercises when viewing them on a deeper level.
Each day has a topic, which is covered through discussion, play, crafting and problem solving. We partner with companies and institutions to generate the content together. We'll update the program with the guests as the spring progresses.
Monday: Computers and The Internet
- What are computers? Where can we find computers? How do they work? What is the Internet?
Tuesday: Visual and Performance Arts
- Why do we have art? Can we make art with computers? Can computers make art?
Wednesday: Food
- Where does food come from? Can computers help in getting good food to our tables? Can computers cook?
Thursday: Homes and Cities
- How do people live? How are our homes and neighborhoods built? Can computers build homes? Are there computers in the city?
Friday: Space
- What is out there in space? What kind of computers are there in space?
Monday: Natural resources (Recycling)
- What is recycling and why is it important? How can computers help in recycling?
Tuesday: Music
- What is music? How can you make music? Can computers make music, or can you make music with computers?
Wednesday: Economy and society
- What is money? Why do we have it? What kind of jobs will humans have in the future?
Thursday: Data
- What is data? How can we collect it? What can computers do with data? What problems collecting data presents?
Friday: Science Fair
- Presenting what we learned.
Example day schedule
A typical day at Hello Ruby Summer Camp includes a versatile set of activities, both indoors and outdoors. Each day has a special theme, and we often have exciting visitors telling about real-life work related to these topics.
Children are encouraged to create and develop their own ideas into real projects on the theme, either individually or in small groups. We always leave time for free play too, as that’s when the best ideas are often born!
8:45-9:15 Flexible arrival to camp.
9:15 Good morning! Breakfast available, getting started for the day ahead.
9:45 Learning about the theme of the day. Exciting visitors and group play.
10:45 Individual or group projects and activities around the theme of the day.
12:00 Lunch time! Let’s enjoy great food together.
12:30 Outdoor play and activities on the theme of the day.
13:30 Story time and reflecting on learning.
14:00 Free play or continue working on individual projects.
15:30-16:00 Flexible pick-up from camp. Bye! See you tomorrow!
Admission for the Summer 2016 camp in Helsinki, Finland
As a kid or a parent
Places are already full, but you can still sign up for the waiting list!
As a sponsor
Are you or your organization interested in building the camp with us? Fill out this form and we will get back to you as soon as possible!
As a distributor
We want to take Ruby's summer school to other cities around the world and are looking for pilot partners for summer 2017. Fill out this form and we will get back to in fall 2016.
Team
Multi-disclipinary team with teachers, researchers, pedagogicans, systems thinkers, architects, circus artists, musicians, philosophers, economists, producers, philantrophists, robot makers and programmers.
A huge thank you for our sponsors & friends who help make this happen!
