Combine a half day in our USA Chess program and a half day of a Game Design Camp.
Whether your child is a casual chess player or tournament participant, USA Chess Camp will improve every child's game. Instructors use a range of teaching tools including demo boards, computer tutorials, worksheets, stories and historic games to keep class time exciting. Each half-day consists of two hour-long chess lessons tailored to the ability of the children and one hour of practice to play against other students and instructors. USA Chess camps are a perfect way to give children a fun week of learning chess while challenging their minds! All campers receive a chess set, notation book, t-shirt and trophy.
Game Design Camps use our custom designed curriculum and children have a blast as they learn to program a video game using step-by-step instructions while learning a bit about the history of game design, design concepts, game styles, and more! There are no prerequisites. The first few days focus on programming basics and by late week the children are well on their way to creating their own games. At the end of camp, campers can download the software, the custom walkthrough guide, resource folder and the games they created, so they can continue to play and create at home.
Our staff is comprised of the best hand-picked children's chess instructors in North America and our computer enrichment staff is specifically trained to teach the software and curriculum. We feel so strongly about our instructors' abilities that we fly them to each of our camps from their home cities. Our selection process for instructors is highly competitive. In addition to in-person meetings, interviews and classroom observation, we conduct thorough background checks to ensure that only the best instructors are part of our team. Teaching children is their passion and their enthusiasm is infectious.
Five different Game Design Camps are offered in combination with the Chess Camp. Themes vary by location and may include:
Scratch Animation Students are introduced to programming by creating short story animated movies with a focus on fun. Campers will create animated stories using the Scratch animated programming tool which allows them to program interactions between characters. They will use a gallery of characters, scenery and custom animations that are designed to help develop their story. The students will learn basic programming skills and have the opportunity broaden their imagination. This is a half-day program. Students can add an additional program to make it a full day camp.
Arcade Style Video Games The Arcade course is a program where the game that is created has action for each level all on one screen similar to Centipede, Asteroids, or Pac Man. The main character (which the children create) can be anything. Other characters (enemies) pursue the main character from off the screen or move about the screen. The character dodges the attacks of the enemies while scoring points for picking up objects and destroying the enemy objects. Options are endless and children create level after level for a full week of fun.
Kodu Video Games - Adventure Style Children will have the option of creating a video game on a Microsoft computer or learning how to program using a Microsoft Xbox controller! Students will create their own cool custom world and navigate through it. Within this world they will create tasks that need to be completed in order to progress to the next level. Some of those tasks include escaping a maze created by the student, a survival mode, outwitting rivals, creating decoys and collecting bonus items!
Kodu Video Games - Go-Kart Style Children create their own Mario Go-Kart style game. Campers begin by designing their own world. Worlds can have mountains, valleys, lakes, hills, etc. or they can be a design unlike anything you have ever seen before. Next they place characters into the world and program them to move about, interacting with other characters, even talking using scripts written for the characters. They can program characters to pick up objects, engage opponents, and overcome villains. Children will use their creativity as they build a world full of racing tasks.
Platform Style Video Games Children build a game described as a "platform" game like Sonic or Mario. Children have a blast as their characters do the impossible, overcome obstacles and enemies and then conquer the Big Boss. The character progresses on a long path (like a journey) with the background scrolling behind it and adversaries, prizes, obstacles, are encountered as it goes. Lessons on the basics will be similar to the Arcade course in the very beginning, but the class diverges and different programming techniques are taught in order to build this Platform game.
