The Endless Summer: How to Keep Your Kid Busy, Safe, and Learning - For Free
With engaging video games that are actually fun, learning to code with Terminal Two has never been easier.
The summer’s not even half over and it’s already been a long one. Kids who usually spend hot days playing outdoors with the neighbors or headed to an enriching summer camp are now largely staying home, and keeping them entertained, engaged, and out of your hair is a full-time job for families right now.
At Endless, helping kids learn through play is the center of our world, and what drives us every day. That’s why we’re proud to launch the Endless Summer, a virtual ‘summer camp’ to help kids learn to code through fun, immersive games-- keeping them engaged while teaching this important skill. Computer jobs are the #1 source of new wages in the U.S., and in 2015, over 7 million jobs used code in some part of their workload. With more than half of schools not offering coding education, summertime is a unique opportunity for your child’s to learn this important, foundational material.
Kids everywhere deserve coding knowledge and skills that will equip them for a bright future in a society that runs on code for everything from microwaves to power plants.
But, it’s not enough that learning to code is important. Breaking through to kids right now, and competing for their attention with an almost infinite font of high quality media, requires dynamic, visceral, and visual environments that are inherently engaging. High quality games, like those available through Terminal Two, can compete -- and win.
Coding is one of the most empowering creation tools available. It equips kids with the ability to create anything from a simple code clock to an entire 3D landscape. Terminal Two's games are meant to be hacked, so your child can gain valuable computer science skills while exploring their creativity by seeing their play change the games themselves. Our games offer an opportunity not only for students to interact with information, but to explore worlds and be creators, by using what they learn to shape a virtual space.
“It was fun,” says student Mary Cantora, “It felt different from actual coding, because before I’d have to go on an actual website and they just tell us the codes, and it’d take forever to actually get it right. This one was more relaxed.”
Coding knowledge is a fundamental part of our lives, and we aim to make it a fundamental part of kids lives.
We believe that gaming represents the next evolution of digital interaction where your child is a participant, not just a consumer. Games, much like traditional classrooms, are environments built so that when you interact, they respond back to you.
And we know access is a key part of kids’ engagement as well. Particularly as kids and parents are cooped up at home, not everyone can afford a premium gaming computer, let alone the games themselves. That’s why we made the Endless Summer free of cost to ensure that any child has access to meaningful, engaging, and educational content that’s so fun they won’t even realize how much they’re learning. Particularly as a COVID-19 “summer slide” looms large in parents and educators minds, making sure we help as many kids as possible keep learning - and keep up - is essential.
For these unprecedented times, the Endless Summer provides a set of free online learning sessions and a virtual summer camp that will not only teach your kids the basics of coding, but will do it through immersive, 3D games that are so fun, they won’t even notice they’re learning.
There are two ways to keep your kid engaged with the Endless Summer :
Sign up! Every Tuesday, beginning July 7th, is a Terminal Two Tuesday, where new challenges and games will be announced. These free, weekly YouTube streams will give your kids a chance to watch, interact, and play alongside our host, Katie Murphy, as they learn to master different coding concepts through our games from industry pros. Each weekly session will include a raffle prize for two lucky winners who post their progress on social media and tag @TerminalTwo, including a Terminal Two swag bag and game codes for the entire suite of downloadable games - for free! For players who play every week, there will be a grand prize of a Terminal Two avatar named for you and created in your likeness, and a donation of ten coding class vouchers for students with limited access. Plus, the final Tuesday of the session will include a celebrity guest (stay tuned to learn more!).
Sign up for Endless Summer Camp. This paid experience will help your kid grow from no prior coding or game-making experience right up to using Unity and C# by the end of the course. It's self-directed, and includes over 30 hours of support and lessons from game industry professionals. If your child likes gaming or has expressed interest in becoming a professional gamer or game designer, this is a great introductory experience.
We know that learning code can be a daunting and overwhelming experience, especially when the only resources you have are stale how-tos or rote memorization.
“I think kids remember more when they’re playing a game,” says teacher Susan Moore, “When they can make the connections themselves, they’ll remember them later.”
Without the logic foundations and seeing immediate results, it can be boring and certainly won’t be keeping your child busy for very long. This is why Terminal Two has created its suite of games: to engage and educate in a fun, visual way. We hope the Endless Summer and Terminal Two are helpful in getting kids to learn and helping them to build important, valuable skills-- while still having fun this summer.
Learn more about the events and sign up today: https://www.terminaltwo.com/summer