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Ellis Abel Learns.

Coding Summer Camp in Portland, OR

The Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, OR-WA metro area has about 2,542,282 residents, ranking 26th in the country. Somewhere in it are children who would love coding summer camp and have never been offered one within driving distance.

Ages 7-14 · For families · Oregon · West

Coding Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in Portland, OR
Coding Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in Portland, OR

What the week actually is

Most coding camps teach syntax and lose the child by Wednesday. This one teaches the loop — write, run, it breaks, read the error, fix it — because that loop is what a programmer actually does and it is learnable at seven.

Day by day

  1. Logic on paper before a keyboard
  2. First program, first error message
  3. Read the error, fix the error
  4. Build something with a user who is not you
  5. Showcase: hand it to someone and watch

Portland, OR — what applies locally

  • The Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, OR-WA metro area has about 2,542,282 residents, ranking 26th in the country.
  • Metro area: Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, OR-WA
  • State: Oregon · Region: West

Questions we get from Portland, OR

Which language?
Block-based for the youngest, then Python. The language matters far less than whether the child will read an error message instead of panicking.
Screen time all week?
No. Roughly half the week is off-screen: planning on paper, tracing logic by hand, testing on each other.
Is it too late to start at 13?
No. Thirteen-year-olds move faster than anyone; what they need is a reason, not an earlier start.

Other camp themes in Portland

Coding Camp elsewhere in Oregon

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