Coding projects

Girl holds a laptop showing a coding project while smiling woman beside her holds a sign reading “we made this”.

“We made this!” Discovering the power of agency in your Code Club

Explore how empowering young people to choose their projects, topics, or programming languages can lead to more engaged Code Club creators who believe their actions make a real difference.

Girl holds a laptop showing a coding project while smiling woman beside her holds a sign reading “we made this”.
Choose from hundreds of Code Club projects, in up to 30 languages

What do we mean by ‘agency’?

At Code Club, giving young people agency means fostering a culture where creators are driven and self-motivated to direct their own growth through their passion for coding.

What are the advantages?

By giving creators agency, you’ll create a more meaningful learning experience. If you allow your creators to work on ideas they care about, their curiosity becomes the foundation for them to develop their coding skills.

We want creators to feel empowered at Code Club and to open up opportunities for them to feel that their voice and their actions can make a difference. This is one way to encourage them to become more engaged and confident. But giving your creators agency doesn’t mean giving up control entirely; help from mentors is essential to getting your creators started in these steps towards independence. Of course, they will also need your guidance and feedback to make lasting progress.

“You can see on their faces when they are creating something from zero that they feel like magicians. They start to create their own things because we have given them the tutorials to follow the steps; they create new things and bring their own projects and new ideas to us!”
– Iliana Ramirez, Code Club Partner, Mexico City

Two children smile while working together at laptops in a busy Code Club.
Use our projects to create games, animations, and much more

So, how can you give your creators agency?

Adding choice to your Code Club sessions can be really simple. Creators volunteer to come to Code Club, and so they have already made their first decision: to follow one of their interests. Once they have arrived, there is no right way to learn to code, so each creator can discover their own path.

Here are three easy ways you could help your creators take ownership of their learning journey at your next session:

1. Projects

Try offering three project ideas and letting creators team up to work on the one they each like best. You could also let creators choose any project they like from our project site.

Offer your creators a thrilling change of pace with these three projects:

Silly Eyes

‘Silly eyes’ is a Scratch project that gives creators the freedom to create their own silly eyes character. The character’s large, silly eyes will follow the mouse pointer and bring the character to life.

Teach a machine

‘Teach a machine’ is part of our AI toolkit path. Creators use a webcam and machine learning to train a computer to tell them how many fingers they are holding up.

Music Player

Get ready to play and share all the best tunes on the BBC micro:bit with ‘Music Player’. Your creators don’t even need the physical micro:bit to try this one.

We have over 200 coding projects to choose from, and each supports creators to learn at their own pace and grow their confidence.

2. Topic or theme

Why not challenge your creators to agree on a theme for the next Code Club session and create projects that link to the topic? Mentors can then encourage them to share how their projects link to the theme at the end of the session and vote on the next theme together. 

A topic can be anything that your creators are interested in, such as animals, a favourite sport, or a seasonal festival. 
You can link our projects to any topic with a bit of imagination. A volcano theme might lead to adapting Boat Race to create a game where you can’t touch the lava. You will find that your creators have lots of ideas!

3. Computing language

Give your creators a choice of which computing language they use through our project paths. Each path is a collection of six projects that cover a set of skills needed for a particular piece of hardware or software alongside design and engineering skills. 

Provide your creators with the information they need to make a choice from a number of different project paths and let them explore the ones that interest them the most.

It is important that creators start at the ‘Introduction to…’ level if they are new to the software or hardware being covered.

Explore the Code Club projects

Start exploring the Code Club projects site and give your creators the agency to make projects they care about at your next Code Club session.

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.  

Start exploring Code Clubs AI projects 

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!

Doodle detector

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.

AI-generated project

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.

Prompt a large language model

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!

Take your first steps into AI with Code Club’s new toolkit

Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere in the news, and you might be wondering how to introduce this exciting technology to your Code Club creators. With our new AI toolkit, you can explore age-appropriate projects that provide a gentle introduction to AI and machine learning. These projects are designed to inspire and empower young creators, opening the door to a world of fun, hands-on technology experiences.

Two boys standing between a sign that says 'Code Club'.
Bring the exploration into your Code Club!

Code Club is the perfect place for AI exploration

Code Club is a welcoming space where young people can safely and creatively explore coding, digital making, and new technologies, such as the capabilities of AI.

Our AI toolkit is a thoughtfully curated collection of ten short projects, each focusing on a carefully selected AI tool or technique. We’ve considered quality, data security, and the ethics behind AI training, for example, one of the projects uses Adobe Firefly, which is only trained on stock images and openly licensed content. That means peace of mind for you, and that your creators can engage with each tool confidently.

And the best part? You don’t need to be an expert, and neither do your creators! Each project can be tackled independently and requires only basic resources — some use webcams or a Raspberry Pi computer, but others only need a web browser. The toolkit has also been designed with flexibility in mind, so you can select projects that match your club’s available tech and your creators’ interests.

Explore our AI toolkit

Getting started with AI in your Code Club

Whether you’re new to AI or are an experienced AI user, the toolkit is designed so anyone can dive in and create something in just minutes.

Each project includes both a step-by-step tutorial video and text instructions, making it easy to follow along. The projects focus on real-world AI applications like classifiers, facial recognition, and image generation, introducing each concept in a hands-on way. And once creators complete a project, they’re encouraged to customise their work and make it their own — a perfect way to let their creativity shine.

Some project highlights…

Chomp the cheese: This fun project teaches creators to combine image recognition with a webcam, letting them virtually “chomp” floating cheese puffs. It’s easy to customise, too — whether your creators want to catch doughnuts, head a football, or add a scoreboard, they’ll have a blast bringing their ideas to life

Explore facial recognition with ‘Chomp the cheese’ 

Dinosaur decision tree: No computers available? No problem! In this paper-based project, creators build a simple decision tree, mimicking how AI classifiers work. It’s an ideal, hands-on way to understand classification — no tech required!

Create a paper-based decision tree

Dance detector: If your creators love to move, this is the project for them! By combining a micro:bit with machine learning, creators can predict and classify dance moves. It’s a perfect mix of tech and active fun.

Dance-off with machine learning!

What do our testers think?

At a recent training event for youth leaders, 77% of participants who tried the projects said that they felt confident about using them with young people in their Code Club. 

And here’s what some of our younger testers had to say:

“I really liked the projects. I now understand AI more :)”

“AI generators are annoyingly inaccurate, but also really fun to mess around with.”

With the new AI toolkit, you have everything you need to introduce AI to your Code Club. Give it a try and watch your creators’ creativity and confidence grow as they explore the endless possibilities of AI.