Many of us at one point in our lives have played video games. Have you, however, tried your hand at designing them?

At the Alexander Hughes Community Center in Claremont, kids who take the video game design and computer coding class have taken the plunge into the gaming world. In just three days, the class walks kids through the history of games, the basics of code and how to put their ideas to the screen.

Camp instructor Mark Grabow has three simple rules: Be respectful, be creative and have fun. With just a little instruction, kids are able to bring their own fantastical imaginations to life through the computer program Scratch.

“Making games on Scratch is cool because it kinda looks like the games I play at home,” says Logan Robles, 9. 

Though video game settings generally seem to take place in fantasy worlds, the foundations for design start with several real world connections.

Through designing their own games, kids build their logical reasoning skills, and also strengthen their historical knowledge. After all, the first “video game” in history was the ancient Chinese puzzle, the tangram.

Although the design class was considered “special interest,” the Hughes Center offers a wide array of classes throughout the summer including an aerial circus camp, garden arts, a mad science camp and writing workshops.

Camps typically run one week, although times vary, and the cost for each camp averages $100 to $150 per week.

For information or to register your child, visit claremontrec.com.

—Anjali Reddy

[Editor’s note:?Anjali Reddy joins us again this summer, after interning last July. She is now entering her senior year at Vivian Webb, where she will serve as editor in chief of The Webb?Canyon Chronicle.—KD]