If you know a young person with an interest in tech, you may be thinking of coming to Coolest Projects International. This awesome event is open to young people up to the age of 18, and it’s a great opportunity for them to showcase the projects they have created with technology.
You do not need to have a completed project to register; all you need is an idea!
1. Break it down
Creating a project may seem like a daunting task in the beginning. However, we believe that the most important thing when creating a project is the process! Freddie Howells, 14, won the Hardware category at Coolest Projects UK 2019 for his facial recognition security system. His advice is to take things one step at a time:
“Break it down,…every great project starts with one small step. Persevere, you’ll get there in the end. Don’t be afraid to ask for help!”
2. Start ideating
Following on from Freddie’s advice, a great first step is to start thinking about ideas! Young people should pick a topic they are interested in, or a problem that they care about. This can be anything from the environment, bullying, and helping people with disabilities, to space travel, pirates, and unicorns!
If you volunteer at a coding club, or are helping kids at home, you can use these helpful “how to build a project” worksheets. The worksheets are based on the design thinking process, and guide you through five easy steps towards building a project! For a more condensed version, you can also print off our “how to build a project poster” and put it on your wall to get those ideas going!
3. Join a coding club near you!
A great way for young people to get started on a project is to join a local coding club. The Raspberry Pi Foundation has a variety of free coding club programmes on offer, such as CoderDojo and Code Club.
Not only will joining a club be a fun social experience, it will also help develop young people’s coding skills. Most clubs will have volunteers who can help your child with their project, and they may even have cool equipment to hand, like a 3D printer or soldering irons!
We cannot wait to see all of the different projects in Dublin on 6 June. Get started on those ideas and remember to have FUN!
Other Coolest Projects events:
Coolest Projects USA | 7 March, Discovery Cube Orange County, California
Coolest Projects UK | 4 April, The Sharp Project, Manchester