A group of people participate in a coding workshop. A person wearing a black shirt with "code club" written on the back is seated in the foreground. Several laptops are on the table, with participants engaging in programming activities. White digital icons, including lightbulbs, graphs, and a globe, decorate the image

Check out these updates to the Code Club platform

We’ve introduced new features to help club leaders manage events, track attendance, and communicate more effectively. These updates make running your club easier, so you can focus on supporting young creators.

Easily check in and check out creators

Club leaders can now use the platform to check creators in and out as they arrive and leave events. This feature helps you keep track of attendance in real-time to help you organise larger groups and keep everyone attending safe if there is a fire alarm. After an event, you can also look back and see who attended and who didn’t.

New search and filter options

Managing larger groups of attendees is now easier with the search and filter feature. You can quickly find specific creators and filter by status. The three groups you can filter by are:

Not arrived – Creators who haven’t arrived.
Checked in – Creators currently at the event.
Checked out – Creators who have left.

Email attendees who booked tickets

Need to send a reminder or communicate a change to the event? You can message all attendees who have booked tickets to an upcoming event directly from the Code Club platform. Whether you want to share changes to event details or provide information on resources in advance, it’s now quick and hassle-free. You can even use markdown to format your message.

Special assistance flag

When booking into an event, parents/carers can share any special assistance a creator might need to join the event or access the venue. In the ‘manage attendees’ section, you will see any needs they might have under the creator’s name as a flag icon with the word ‘Assistance’ beside it. To see more details, click on the name of the young person and the type of assistance they require will be visible.

A user interface card displaying information about Jill Hill, age 12. It includes two selectable options: "Work on my own project" and "Assistance," with the latter highlighted. In the top right corner, there are three buttons: a cross (X), a checkmark (✔) highlighted in green, and an arrow pointing right. — Special assistance flag feature

Find resources you need quicker

We’ve reorganised the resources section on our website to make it easier for you to find the resources you need. Whether you’re looking for activities, certificates, or resources for planning an upcoming session, everything is now structured to make it more accessible.

A webpage from Code Club featuring a "Resources" section with a green banner that reads, "Our resources are designed to help you start, manage, and grow your club." Below, a "Browse by category" section displays three colorful icons: a green box with code brackets and a cursor, a pink box with a lightbulb, and a blue box with a magnifying glass over a person icon. — Resources on the Code Club website

Expanding language options

The Code Club website, including our platform features, is available in five languages. These are Dutch, English, French, Japanese and Welsh. We will soon be adding resources in these languages as well as Greek translations to further support our global community. A huge thank you to our volunteer community of translators who share their skills to make Code Club accessible to more young people around the world!

Thank you to our volunteer community of translators

These updates are designed to help you manage your club more efficiently, so mentors can focus on providing a great experience to creators.

Log in now and explore these new features! If you have any feedback about the platform or website, please email support@codeclub.org.

Get your Code Club coding with AI and ML

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are transforming the world around us, and it’s more important than ever for young people to understand this technology.

By introducing AI and ML concepts in your Code Club, you can equip your members with essential skills for the future, spark their creativity, and empower them to become responsible users of AI technologies.

Code Club’s AI projects make exploring AI and ML a blast. You can learn more about the projects in our ‘Taking your first steps into AI’ blog. With hands-on activities and fun challenges, they’re the perfect way to spark a passion for these exciting technologies.

“The AI learning path gives kids an understanding of the different ways AI fits into our world, whether they’re looking at photo recognition or my favourite project ‘Doodle detector’, where we get to draw and decide what our picture is. All of these feed into how young people understand the way AI works, and getting in early gives them a deep understanding of how that can work to help them in the future, and what to look for so that they don’t get caught out by it.”
– Kaye North, Code Club Australia

Project options for every club

New to AI? Start with the ‘Doodle detector’

If you’re new to AI, the Doodle detector is a great project to start with. You don’t need any special kit, just a computer. Creators draw different objects, then train an ML model to recognise their drawings. It’s a fun way for creators to see for themselves how model training works.

Can the model detect an apple? A banana? A cat? A caterpillar? Gather your Code Club and put it to the test!

Limited connectivity? No problem!

In our unplugged Dinosaur decision tree project, creators explore how ML models use decision trees to sort things into groups.

This project uses a paper-based decision tree to classify dinosaurs, but you could classify anything.

Short on time? Create an AI image

Need a quick and creative activity? Try our ‘AI-generated images’ project and produce amazing AI images with Adobe Firefly. Your creators will learn how to write text prompts and then watch as generative AI brings their creations to life.

This project uses Adobe Firefly, which requires an Adobe ID. You must be 13 or older to register for an individual Adobe ID.

Got a microphone? Use your voice!

In the Fish food project, creators train an ML model to recognise voice commands and then play a fun fish-feeding game using their commands. You’ll need a microphone for this one. Want to feed a giraffe or a penguin instead? Go for it!

More advanced coders? Level up with a large language model

Your more advanced Code Club creators can learn how to run a large language model on their Raspberry Pi and create a powerful AI assistant using Ollama.

This project is not recommended for learners below the age of 13 and we encourage Code Club creators to engage with this material responsibly.

New AI safety resources

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has released new AI safety resources that equip educators with the tools to empower learners to question AI technologies, think critically, and use AI technologies responsibly. The AI safety resources allow for flexible learning and have been built around three key components: animations, unplugged activities, and discussion questions.

Head to the Code Club projects page to find these projects and more! Don’t be afraid to experiment and have fun. Who knows? Your Code Club might just create the next big thing in AI!

A group of young people gather around a table as they work on activity together.

Three icebreaker activities that will build connections within your club

Kickstart your Code Club by using an icebreaker activity! Let us guide you through three icebreakers and how they can help your creators to connect, collaborate, and feel comfortable learning together.

Young people all face the mentor who stands at the front of the classroom — Young people at Linton-on-Ouse Primary School and Nursery getting started at their Code Club.

What is the best way to start your Code Club? There will never be one right answer that will fit everyone: the way you run your sessions will depend on the unique needs of your attendees, their ages, and interests.

But what about those scenarios where you have been thrown a curveball? A new club member is joining, or your creators have all rushed in, and they’re bouncing off the walls! This is where you might want to consider an icebreaker activity.

What is an icebreaker?

An icebreaker is a short activity that takes up to 15 minutes to complete. They can be used at the start of your Code Club session to help everyone get to know each other and warm up. Icebreakers are also a good way to disconnect from whatever activity your creators have come from and turn their focus to Code Club. We recommend choosing an unplugged activity for this.

Let’s explore three icebreaker activities and how they could benefit your Code Club.

New to the club

First up is ‘introduce a teammate’. This icebreaker is excellent for welcoming any newcomers to your Code Club. Led by the creators, it gives them an opportunity to get to know each other in a fun way.

This icebreaker is a low-pressure activity to encourage communication, help new members quickly gain a sense of belonging, and develop public speaking skills, especially in quieter creators. It’s even more of a challenge if creators already know each other: what new facts can they share?

Creating a positive learning environment

Do your creators regularly come charging into the room, buzzing with excitement? Of course they do, and you’re keen to channel this energy into your session, but how do you go about creating a positive learning environment?

The icebreaker ‘robot maze’, works to ease your creators into the session by immediately focusing their energy on an exciting task, as they learn the importance of of being specific when creating their code.

There’s so much flexibility with our icebreaker activities. Why not encourage calm by making this an individual activity. Each creator can try out their instructions on the robot one at a time, getting their brains into gear as they link their learning to the coding project or content you are planning to cover in the session.

Mixing things up

You can use ‘the low-tech social network’ icebreaker to encourage young creators to get to know each other. Creators who regularly attend Code Club may find themselves sitting with the same people at each session.

This icebreaker presents the perfect opportunity to help your creators connect by finding similarities with one another. By encouraging them to chat to lots of different creators, you can build cooperation and teamwork skills to use further down the line.

Check out all of our unplugged activities and try one of these icebreakers in your next Code Club session!

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