Code Club is coming to the library to teach kids more about the language used by the technology they interact with almost every day.

NOTL Public Library’s micro bits summer camp’s success and great response from the community is pushing staff members to make the program bigger and better, said children’s library services associate Kasia Dupuis.

The program is designed for children 18 and under with most of the programming aimed at those between 8 and 14. 

“It’s really for kids of any age who want to practise with the way they think about computers,” Dupuis said.

“If they have no background at all, it’s a great way to start.”

It is free to sign up and those interested can do so through the library website. Code Club participants will have several components to complete.

“It’s a part on-screen, part off-screen, introduction to coding concepts and mainly the way to think about how computers think,” Dupuis said.

“It focuses on things like patterning, recognition and sequencing, and all the little parts that you can turn on in your brain to better understand how computers work in general and therefore how to speak to them.”

Code Club will be the first part of the coding initiative introduced at the NOTL library until two more programs start in October. These programs include programs geared toward kids ages 3 to 5 and 6 to 10.

“Storytime with Cubetto” will involve a no-screen story time focused on coding language and communicating with a little robot named Cubetto.

“Hello, World!” explores coding concepts through a series of virtual workshops involving games and projects conducted by library staff via video conferencing.

Dupuis and Christine Reganti, an IT/makery assistant, are the team behind these new programs and will facilitate the sessions by video conferencing until it is safe to do so in person.