SPOTLIGHT ON: Little Inventors and Tiny Tots & Technology
WHAT IS IT?
In connection with its ongoing CORPUS exhibition, the New Westminster New Media Gallery is partnering with The Rainbow Forecast Project to offer STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) courses for small kids.
WHAT’S INVOLVED?
Two upcoming programs are aimed at young children.
Little Inventors After-School Club runs Wednesdays starting Feb. 6, and it’s aimed at students in grades 1 and 2. The kids will check out the works in CORPUS and then use LittleBits technology to create pulsating heartbeats, blinking eyes and moving body systems.
“Workshops will alternative between guided immersive technology explorations and movement games,” a write-up says. “All is designed to connect the language of coding to real life. Imagination and curiosity will be key.”
Tiny Tots and Technology runs three Saturday afternoons starting March 3. The program for preschoolers (ages three to five) offers interactive workshops where children will learn alongside their parents through storytelling, play and games that introduce simple circuit-making, coding and computational thinking.
WHAT DO KIDS GET OUT OF IT?
The children don’t take any technology home, but they do get the New Media Gallery STEAM certificate, which outlines the new tools, technologies and ideas they have acquired. They will also be eligible for a 10 per cent discount on their next New Media Gallery workshop. They also get New Media Gallery STEAM T-shirts – not to mention the experience of having explored all kinds of new ideas and having awakened an interest in technology, coding and much more.
WHERE DO THE PROGRAMS HAPPEN?
The New Westminster New Media Gallery is at Anvil Centre, 777 Columbia St., New West. The courses are based in the Teaching Lab.
HOW MUCH DO THEY COST?
Little Inventors After-School Club costs $85 for six sessions, while Tiny Tots and Technology costs $45 for three classes.
HOW DO I SIGN UP?
Email Sunshine Frere, the curatorial and educational programmer, at [email protected]. If you want to know more about the programs, search for New Media Gallery STEAM on Facebook.
- Julie MacLellan
