Our Top Seven Kid-Friendly Activities at MozFest 2018
Looking for great kid-friendly activities in London? A technology conference might not top your list but MozFest (Oct 26–28), a tech festival brought to you by the maker of Firefox, has long catered to the lunchbox set.
Alongside sessions and workshops for adults, MozFest features a Youth Zone, offering a wide range of fun, hands-on workshops on coding, games, music, and art. Empowering kids to discover, make, and share is top priority — this year over twenty sessions will be led by young people under the age of 18. Every session is designed to be beginner-friendly and all materials are provided. MozFest 2018 is on October 26–28 at Ravensbourne University on the Greenwhich Peninsula. Get £3 Youth tickets to MozFest weekend now.
Mozilla emphasizes collaboration, community, and cooperation in festival activities for both youth and adult participants — it’s part of the organization’s open source ethos. So kids will pick up new, positive social skills as they explore and learn.
Here are just seven of our favorite experiences for kids at MozFest 2018.
- Crazy for unicorns? Head over to “Hacking Unicorn Horns with the Circuit Playground” to make a colour-changing, wearable unicorn horn. Use sensors and MakeCode, a super simple graphical code editor to program a magical light and sound sequences your horn.
2. In “Micro:bit Games,” collaborate to create versions of rock, paper, scissors and skip counter using the Micro:bit, a pocket-sized microcontroller developed by the BBC to teach kids to code.
3. Dreaming of creating your own game? Check out “Gamestorming — the quest for the discovery of stories” to discover how to gamestorm (brainstorm) your own game idea, whether it’s a fantasy Role Playing Game or a chilling monster thriller.
4. In “Haunted Houses with Google SketchUp” create a Halloween-ready, digital 3D haunted house with custom textures, colours, and designs for that special ‘spooky’ vibe.
5. Learn coding concepts by solving simple puzzles in the session “Build Your Own Minecraft Hut by Coding”, then put those newfound skills to work building and decorating your own structures in Minecraft
6. In “Tinfoil Explorer HATs, a Python and some Raspberries” build a cool light-up display or simple messaging system with a tactile, tinfoil interface.
7. Use digital tech and a bit of math and physics to fashion musical instruments out of everyday objects (think: carrot clarinet) in our “DIY Music” workshop. Learn to play your instrument and create a group performance!
MozFest Tickets for youth are just £3 for a full weekend of events. The Festival offers limited day care services for attendees with very young children, and a “Chill Out Space” in the midst of the Youth Zone, for those who need a quiet area to wind down.
