"If we get to make games in Roblox, that makes me happy!" The younger children, who usually spend their time just playing, were delighted.
In October, Houkago Lab (our after-school lab) started its second term, which runs for six months. On the first day, we talked to the children about one thing: having a goal.
Until now, Houkago Lab has mostly been a time when each child uses their own computer to do whatever they like. For the next six months, the children will decide what they want to make and build it together as teams.
Four teams are underway
The Roblox team is mainly made up of younger elementary school children. They will come up with ideas for fun games they want to play themselves. Staff and volunteers will help turn those ideas into actual games.
The Minecraft team will take on programs that can be used at events, such as a "Run for Money"-style chase game and a PvP (player versus player) battle system. Building is also part of this team's work.
The AI team will start with making games. As they build, they will also think about how AI can be put to use.
The art team is mostly girls. They will use the design tool Canva and the drawing app ibisPaint. Starting with drawing, they will work on making animations and videos.
Teams are a doorway to finding what you want to do
We did not divide into teams to fix one thing for each child to make. Over six months, each child will find what they really want to do. That is the goal of this term.
From playing games to making games. From watching videos to making videos. As we wrote in an earlier column, what shapes a child's growth is less the hours spent watching and more the experience of creating something with their own hands. We want these six months at Houkago Lab to be a time for building up that experience.
Aiming to present their work in six months
At the end of the term, we hope each team will be able to present what they made: games they designed, programs for events, works using AI, animations and videos. We are looking forward to seeing what they create.
Houkago Lab is held every Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m. at "Imoya Ponpoko" in Ota City, Tokyo. Elementary and junior high school students can join for free, and each child gets their own computer to use. Thanks to far more applications than we had places for, registration for the second term has closed. We are still accepting visits and waitlist sign-ups in case a place opens up. For details, please see the Houkago Lab page.
Please support the children's six months of making things.
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