OpenUK expands digital summer camp initiative

This will provide a series of fun animated video tutorials for kids to attend during the school summer holiday period and e-zines with activities and challenges for the kids to complete.

The glove kits have been financed thanks to sponsorship from Huawei.

The OpenUK MiniMu Glove kits are designed by MI.MU and produced by Pimoroni Limited, a UK-based electronics manufacturer and distributor, specialising in Kids’ tech. The additional gloves, and the activities around them, have been developed to support OpenUK’s objectives around Open Technology, community engagement and education.

Amanda Brock, CEO at OpenUK stated: “We wanted to expand the reach of our competition course during the summer - after the impact of lockdown, any activities that can get kids interested in developing new skills in a fun and engaging way should be available to as many kids as possible. The MiniMu glove kit giveaway comes after the Micro:bit Foundation ran a giveaway for 5,000 devices earlier in April and gives kids another route to engaging in technology.”

“We are really excited about the OpenUK Digital Summer Camp in August. It’s perfect timing for kids to get quality digital skills over the holiday. The MiniMu kits and the online resources are all available free of charge which means anyone can join in. You can even use just a mobile phone, if there’s no computer/laptop at home.

"This will be one of our summer courses at the Young Coders Meet-up supported by our young coders, Adonai and Femi (a.k.a. Hackerfemo), so this is digital inclusion at its finest. I just wish we could make sure all young people had free access to WiFi and tablets, that’s our next campaigning objective!” said Grace Owolade-Coombes, Director at Transform Educational Support.

Bryan Chen, Huawei commented: “We are happy to support this initiative by enabling more kids to get their hands on the MiniMu Gloves and take part in these activities over summer through a financial contribution. Our approach supports open source, from enterprise IT through to projects like this that demonstrate the value of open technology.”

The OpenUK Digital Kids Camp will deliver 10 video-based lessons using the MiniMu Glove Kit, providing animated videos to work along with and e-zines that support the learning approach.

The lessons were designed by Ed Tech Hall of Famer David Whale and matched to the curriculums in Scotland and England by Morrison’s Academy teacher Pamela Boal. With imagery from the animation firm Drawnalism and voice work from Double Grammy winner Imogen Heap and Steph Bower of TalkaDoodleDo, the Glove Kits provide the components necessary to add to a BBC micro:bit to create the MiniMu musical glove.

To register, click here.