What is Family Creative Learning?
Family Creative Learning is a workshop series that engages children and their families to learn together — as designers and inventors — through the use of creative technologies. We designed the workshops to build on families' relationships and cultural backgrounds and to strengthen their social support and expertise around computing.
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Learning Together
As they create together, families learn how to support one another in their learning from asking questions, giving feedback, and persevering through challenges.
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Engaging in Making
Children and their parents engage in design-based activities using creative technologies, like Scratch, Scratch Jr and MaKey MaKey to create their own personally meaningful projects
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Building Connections
Children and parents also connect with other families, by sharing meals from local restaurants, engaging in inter-family activities, and sharing their projects.
Why families and creative technologies?
Technology pervades all aspects of our lives and young people are growing up playing, learning, and connecting with technology. We recognize that families have a wealth of knowledge and cultural resources along with rich histories and stories. These workshops leverage the learning dynamics that families already use in activities like literacy development and support families in using them in the context of computing, enabling adult caregivers and children to become more empowered learning partners.
How are the workshops run?
Families participate in a series of four to five 2-hour workshops. Every workshop has four parts: Eat, Meet, Make, Share. We begin with a shared meal. Then facilitators check in with kids and adult caregivers before engaging families in a collaborative design activity, using Scratch and MaKey MaKey or ScratchJr, that centers their family interests and stories. With these creative technologies, families learn to not only use new technologies, but also create their own technologies. The workshop series culminates in a showcase night for families to share their projects to the whole community.
Download the Facilitator Guide
Want to learn more details? Interested in adapting Family Creative Learning for your setting? Click here to learn more and download our Family Creative Learning Facilitator Guide.
Who designs the workshops?
The Creative Communities research group at the University of Colorado Boulder, directed by Ricarose Roque, designs the workshops with educators and coordinators in schools and community organizations like Boys and Girls Clubs and public libraries. They have implemented workshop series in Colorado, Massachusetts, and New Mexico. Since the Family Creative Learning Facilitator Guide was released in 2014, many educators from around the world have adapted these workshops in their settings.