Smartphones, Instagram, and Minecraft: three things that didn’t exist ten years ago, and three things that are now a central part of the daily life of an average adolescent. Children rarely make the connection between the technology they use daily and the process that created it. The concept of “programming” is something intangible and intimidating to so many youths.

But is there a better audience out there to learn the power of technology? In a dynamic world with constantly evolving challenges, finding ways to utilize technology to help people be more productive, successful, and happy is a top priority. Computing Kids is an organization dedicated to by focusing on collaborative, problem-solving computer skills and using fun and explorative learning environments.

On May 30^th, our sister organization Computing For All is hosting an all-day programming competition for kids in grades 5-8 on Microsoft’s Corporate Redmond campus. Students from all Washington State elementary and middle schools are invited to participate. Sponsored by Microsoft and Google and endorsed by WTIA, the competition will include individual and team programming and design challenges, using an interactive MIT-developed programming software called Scratch. Winners in each division will receive fun prizes!

Our featured guest speakers are Dr. Lenin Sivalingam and Dr. Aakanksha Chowdhery from Microsoft Research, who plan to discuss the joys of programming, while showing how straightforward it is to program an asimo robot to play games.

For more information on the competition and to register, please visit computingforall.org. For more information on Computing Kids, please visit our website at computingkids.com. We look forward to seeing you there!