As technology is intrinsic to daily life in this modern era, young kids have been growing up with the evolving technology. Likewise, some youths may take interest in computer science that has been shaping their daily routine. However, even with the widely accessible resources, kids might not know where to get involved, or they might be simply clueless about their personal paths of passion. Therefore, having a platform that allows kids to explore various fields of interest would be conducive to their personal growth and childhood moment. For instance, Kid Hackathon, which is considered an extracurricular activity, is one of the several ways that enables kids to get to learn more about technologies; it is important that students are able to apply what they learned in schools into solving real-life issues, and to let them know that such a hobby can be built into a career.

What exactly is a Kid Hackathon?

A kid’s hackathon is a one-day social coding event, organised to enable students to engage in STEM education and use their knowledge to solve actual problems in their modern society. 

Who can participate in the Kid Hackathon?

There is no such thing as an ideal participant in a hackathon: even kids without coding experience are able to join; all it takes is the determination and desire to explore new fields. Usually in a hackathon team, students with different skills (programming, communication, designing, creativity) come together to collaborate, compete and create a functioning solution to a problem using the existing technology—the product is not expected to be flawless but instead to illustrate the effort put in by the kids and the impacts it can have on the society.

Benefits of Participating in a Hackathon

• Able to exchange knowledge between other participants:

In Kid-Hackathon, students are given opportunities to communicate with other peers from diverse backgrounds and schools, which allows them to learn about different techniques or educational sources other participants used in order to improve themselves in aspects they are lacking. 

• Opportunities to improve different life skills:

As children learn code from a young age, it helps them to foster their creativity and strengthen their cognitive ability: when kids make mistakes, they will learn from it—creativity is part of the process and not always the product, quoted from the learningresources.com. 

As hackathon incorporates more than just a coding skill; other features such as collaboration and teamwork, research and presentational skills are also conducive to a child’s development at a young age. For instance, at the end of the event, each team will be required to give a detailed presentation explaining their prototypes that they have created to other participants; this allows children to develop a sense of courage and improve their communication skills.

• Mentor is always there to help:

Mentors are always there to help assist and improve the kids’ ideas: students are able to receive constructive feedback, encouragement for their creativity and hard work, and newbies can learn and have a better understanding of the technologies surrounding their lives. 

• Students can learn and innovate their own product:

A hackathon is more than just a playground where kids come to write their own piece of code and have fun; the main idea is to encourage kids to let their imagination run wild and  to develop a practical solution such as creating a prototype.

If you are looking forward to an event like this in Cambodia, Tech for kids academy will be launching an initiative program called “Kid-KATHON” soon. So stay curious and learn different; stay updated with our Facebook homepage:(https://www.facebook.com/techforkids.asia)