KIDS CODING WEEK: September 1–5, 2025
The Kids Coding Week will take place at Villa Guastavillani (Via degli Scalini 18) and will be conducted in Italian.
Below is the full programme: 
MONDAY
9:00 (Groups 1 & 2): Ice Breaking
To help participants get to know each other, we will organize ice-breaking activities based mainly on improvisational theater techniques. These fun and creative activities will encourage interaction and collaboration among the children. Alongside the experiential component, there will be a continuous focus on key skills such as teamwork, inclusion and valuing others, flexibility, problem solving, creativity, and learning from mistakes.
11:00 – 11:30 Snack Break
11:30 – 13:30
Group 1: Discovering the Wonders of Bologna
Participants will prepare to become expert guides of the city of Bologna. Together we will learn more about the city, exploring its most famous landmarks and uncovering fascinating legends and curiosities. Coding as a language to build microworlds. Snap! as a tool to create and run microworlds.
Concepts: actions, sequences, blocks.
Group 2: Learning Through Play!
In this first lesson, students will be introduced to computational thinking and the basic components of Snap!, learning about the workspace and fundamental elements of the environment.
They will be introduced to several possible game projects, such as:
- Snake
- Flappy Bird
- Space Invaders
- Whack-a-Mole
Afterwards, the students will take part in a brainstorming session to identify the first steps needed to develop their chosen game.
13:30 – 14:30 Lunch Break
14:30 – 16:30
Group 1: Discovering the Wonders of Bologna
(Continuation of the morning activity.)
Group 2: Exploring Artificial Intelligence and Prompt Engineering
In this lesson, students will discover what Artificial Intelligence is: how it works, where we encounter it in everyday life, and why it is so important. They will learn what prompts are—the instructions we give AI to obtain answers. Through practice, they will explore prompt engineering, the art of writing effective requests, using an AI chatbot. After guided examples and practice, each student will interview a classmate and then write a prompt that gets the AI to present their partner to the class… in an original and creative way!
TUESDAY
9:00 – 11:00
Group 1: Bologna City Center
Participants will learn how to navigate toward the city’s main points of interest. They will reach Bologna’s historic center to deepen their knowledge of selected landmarks.
Activities:
- Movement using keyboard arrows.
- Online research on Bologna’s curiosities and legends.
Group 2: Snap! Fundamentals
This lesson will cover and order the steps needed to create the game, based on increasing levels of difficulty.
Students will then use the first Snap! blocks to learn simple actions such as movement and changing appearance. Later, they will connect game elements through message sending, creating a small system to start the game. Finally, they will be asked to adapt the message system independently to design their own start-up mechanism.
11:00 – 11:30 Snack Break
11:30 – 13:30
Group 1: Think Like a Bot
What makes a robot “intelligent”? How does it correctly complete a task? As in many fields, intelligent agents take inspiration from nature and human behavior.
We will explore how robots can perform actions by analyzing how humans decide which action to take from different options to achieve a goal.
Group 2: Play and Grow
Using improvisational theater techniques, participants will explore their individual abilities through play and fun, allowing them to:
- Overcome self-imposed limits and build self-confidence
- Improve self-management and process skills
- Strengthen an adaptive mindset
- Activate lateral thinking and creativity
- Recharge with positive energy
13:30 – 14:30 Lunch Break
14:30 – 16:30
Group 1: Play and Grow
(Continuation of the morning activity.)
Group 2: Think Like a Bot, Avoid Like an Agent!
We will explore how to teach a robot agent to avoid obstacles along its path, evaluating possible behaviors and decision-making processes.
WEDNESDAY
9:00 – 11:00
Group 1: Bologna “La Dotta”
During their city journey, participants will meet Bologna’s symbolic character, “La Dotta,” who will test their knowledge about the city.
Activities:
- Character interactions
- User interactions
- If-else conditions
Group 2: Basic Computer Science Structures
Students will be introduced to key computer science constructs such as conditionals (if-else) and loops (while), to build the game’s basic mechanisms. They will be encouraged to think about the best ways to implement these mechanisms, developing logical reasoning while applying the Snap! blocks learned so far.
11:00 – 11:30 Snack Break
11:30 – 13:00 (Groups 1 & 2): Play and Grow
(Improvisational theater techniques, as described on Tuesday.)
13:00 – 14:30 Lunch Break
14:30 – 16:30
Group 1: Bologna for Me Is…
Participants will visit the place in Bologna most meaningful to them and represent it in their microworld.
Activities: consolidating skills, drawing the chosen location.
Group 2: Recognizing Each Other with AI: My Friend’s Face
Students will use Teachable Machine to train a simple AI facial recognition model. They will take photos of themselves and teach the AI to distinguish between two classmates. They will learn how machine learning works and watch in real time as the AI “learns” to recognize one person from another—a fun and engaging way to understand visual recognition!
THURSDAY
9:00 – 11:00
Group 1: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
A workshop designed to introduce children to AI in a simple, creative, and fun way. Through hands-on activities, interactive games, and short digital experiments, they will discover what AI is, how it works, and where we encounter it in daily life. The activities will spark curiosity, logical thinking, and collaboration, giving children their first conscious look at future technologies.
Group 2: Moving Poses: Teaching AI to Recognize Our Bodies
In this lesson, students will move—literally! Using Teachable Machine, they will learn how AI can recognize body poses and movements. After a short introduction to pose estimation, they will build a simple model to recognize poses they choose (e.g., standing, arms up, sitting). The workshop will turn into an interactive game where the AI must guess what pose they are making—a fun way to see how technology can “read” our movements.
11:00 – 11:30 Snack Break
11:30 – 13:00 (Groups 1 & 2): Play and Grow
(Improvisational theater techniques, as described above.)
13:00 – 14:30 Lunch Break
14:30 – 16:30
Group 1: Bologna Microworld
Participants will retrace their journey of discovery through Bologna and complete their city microworld.
Activities: finalizing and reviewing the microworld in Snap!
Group 2: Game Element Cloning
This lesson introduces simplified mechanisms to duplicate sprites, allowing students to implement the final, more complex parts of the game. At this stage, the game elements will be fully functional, and students will create their own game images.
FRIDAY
9:00 – 11:00
Group 2: Completing the Game: Music and Sounds
Students will finalize the game’s drawings and, with the teacher’s help, upload their images. They will then add Snap! blocks to create sound effects and simple loops for background music. Finally, they will prepare a short presentation to share during the project showcase.
11:00 – 11:30 Snack Break
11:30 – 13:30 (Groups 1 & 2): Final Project Presentations to Parents
