Author: Amy Makice

We have age guidelines for geek camp, mostly for my (Amy writing here) convenience. I pretty much have to invite all the Makice kids to camp, so I’ve got to find ways to make it work for their ages, whatever they may be. My preference is not to stray a lot from their ages, which are spread out already, so suggested guidelines are kids entering 1st-8th grade. Older than that, and I want to talk to them about helping me run the camp, which I can promise them, is tons of fun. I’ve had several people ask about kiddos who are younger than 1st grade, and we’ve certainly stretched our ages in the past (we used to say only 3rd grade and up). It makes more sense to simply have some guidelines and trust parents to choose appropriately for their kids. Here are a few pieces of the puzzle to ponder with your younger kids (these apply to older ones too!). We ask all kids to deposit their electronic devices in a basket when they get here, and only access them when they are directly needed for a project. If your child will be heartbroken to lose her device for the day, one of them should stay home. (Devices are NOT necessary for campers). Adults aren’t always with the kids. Sometimes there are two adults and 4 or 5 different working projects,...

I was sharing my Geek Camp preparation anxieties with a friend this morning. “It sounds interesting,” he said, “but I couldn’t do it because I’m not geeky enough.” The first year we did Geek Camp, it’s possible I knew more than the kids participating, but every year since then I’ve watched them gain on me in technical and cultural know-how. In the last two years, a few of them have actually lapped me.  Now, I come to geek camp ready to learn. The adults at Geek Camp are here to facilitate exploration and collaboration. Some of us have extra tech skills we will happily share, but there is no “geeky enough” bar set for participants or helpers. We do have some guidelines for exploration, although we try to keep them as minimal as possible. This is summer, and mostly, we just want to have fun. Over the years we have honed the guidelines into the following:   Try new things. This is a chance to try things you may not even know you like doing. If you usually direct, try following someone else’s lead. If you’ve never tried a sewing machine, now’s your chance to give it a whirl. Being a geek involves taking risks and making mistakes. Respect your surroundings and community. We are a lot of people in a tiny space. We also have a cat we...