Happy February! We are looking for more ways to let everyone know what’s happening at the Pongos Learning Lab, so we’re going to start blogging more, and hope to at least once a week. In this post, we’ll share:

• Summer Camps
• Winter 2019 Classes
• New Clubs
• Upcoming Clubs

Summer Camps

Yes, we know it’s currently snowing outside, but summer camp registration is in full swing, and we want you to get the best price! We will have camps all summer long at our Crofton location, and we’re working on getting some half-day camps on the schedule with our friends at All-Sport Kids Academy. If you know of another location that might be great for our half-day camps, let us know.

Now for the discount 🙂 Save with the summer2019 discount code. That will get you 25% off each week of camp (doesn’t apply to lab fees). The discount was supposed to drop to 20% on February 1, but we’re leaving it alone for at least the next week, to give parents who were affected by the government shutdown some extra time.

Winter 2019 Classes

Our Winter 2019 class start next week! We have 3 classes, each of which will be offered at 2 different times:

• Introduction to Programming for Grades 3-8 ($96)
  • Mondays, February 4-March 18 (No class February 18), 10:45-11:45AM
  • Tuesdays, February 5-March 12, 6:15-7:15PM
• Introduction to Video Production (YouTube Stars) for Grades K-8 ($96)
  • Tuesdays, February 5-March 12, 10:45-11:45AM
  • Wednesdays, February 6-March 13, 6:15-7:15PM
• LEGO Robotics for Grades 1-8 ($128-160)
  • Wednesdays, February 6-March 27, 10:45-11:45AM
  • Thursdays, February 7-March 28, 6:15-7:15PM

If your child is already in a club that happens at the same time as one of the classes above, he or she may attend the class at no additional cost. If your child is in a club on a different day/time, you will get a discount when you register for any of the classes listed above.

New Clubs

We just started a new LEGO Club on Monday evenings, and it has proven to be very popular for the younger kids, and we have had several in the 3-5 year old age range! In order to better accommodate parents who also have kids in our Monday night Builders Club, we’re going to extend the LEGO Club time to 7:30pm. The price will remain the same: $10 for drop-off and $5 if a parent stays and plays.

Next up will be an Art Club! Based on recent survey results, we’re going to try a Monday evening club for K-8, and a Saturday morning club for 3-5 year olds (with a parent). We’ll post on social media as soon as we have the first sessions scheduled.

Ongoing Clubs

We have clubs happening Monday through Friday throughout the school year. You can register for a single drop-in session, or sign your child up for a monthly membership.

Homeschool winter classes start the week of February 4, 2019. These introductory instructor-led classes are fun, and provide a great foundation for our clubs and more advanced classes.

Introduction to Programming for Homeschoolers

Grades 3-8
Mondays, February 4-March 18 (No Class February 18) 
10:45-11:45am 
$96

Introduction to Video Production for Homeschoolers

Grades K-8
Tuesdays, February 5-March 12
10:45-11:45am 
$96

LEGO Robotics for Homeschoolers

Grades 1-8
Wednesdays, February 6-March 27
10:45-11:45am 
$128 (Grades 1-4)
$160 (Grades 5-8)

April showers bring more classes 🙂 Monday (6-7:30) Minecraft Club and Friday (6-9) Gamer Club continue into June, and tickets are now available for all remaining weeks. We have also added the following:

• Build an App for your Business, on April 9 – This is a free workshop for anybody who wants to learn how to build an app.  Join us 9-10:30am, at the office or online.
• Introduction to Programming for Homeschoolers, starting April 9 – Join us 11am-12pm on Mondays for 6 weeks.
• Game Design with Scratch, starting April 10 – Tuesdays, 5:45-6:45pm for 6 weeks of programming for kids in grades 3-8.
• Modding Minecraft, starting April 10 – Tuesdays, 7-8pm for 6 weeks of Java programming in Minecraft.
• Introduction to Animation, starting April 11 – Wednesdays, 6:30-8pm for 4 weeks of stop motion animation fun!
• Galaxy Painting, on April 21 – This class for adults and teens continues our creative series with Larsen Lane Lettering.
• Teen Gamer Club, on April 27 – If we get a good response, we’ll add more dates for this club geared towards kids in grades 6 through 12.

We expect to add some more classes over the next several weeks, including several parent/child creative classes, a Roblox club, robotics clubs, and some more STEAM fun for kids in K-2 and 6-12 (3-5 is pretty well-covered!).

Summer camp registration is also still in full swing, and many camps are starting to get pretty full, so if you’re considering registering grab a spot while you can. For April, the summer2018 discount code will get you 10% off the cost of summer camps.  In addition to our popular topics from the last couple of summers, such as YouTube Stars and Animation All Stars, we have added a few new ones, like Escape the Camp and Maker Camp.

Don’t forget we also have birthday parties! Kids (and adults, we don’t judge) can choose gaming, slime, crafts, and many other activities for parties they won’t forget. Sign up for a party in April and get a voucher for one free session of Gamer Club at the party, as our gift to the guest of honor. 

A few parents have told us they couldn’t find the camps on our web site, so here’s a post with a link straight to them! Go here for camps.

Happy New Year! We are mostly moved in to our amazing, new, 4,000+ square foot space. Most of our classes for January through mid-June have been added to the web site, and we will be adding our summer camps very soon. You can save 10% on most of them through 1/15/2018 with the happynewyear discount code.

Members always save 20% on all Open Play labs, and 10% on most other events. Not already a member? Sign up for a membership before you register for any classes, to get the discounts.

Here’s a list of everything we have scheduled so far (* denotes Open Play, which is 20% off for members):

• January-June (ongoing)
  • Minecraft Club – Mondays, 6-7:30pm, starting 1/8
  • STEAM Lab Open Play* – Mondays, 6-7:30pm, starting 1/8
  • Game Lab Open Play* – Thursdays, 6-7:30pm, starting 1/11
  • STEAM Lab Open Play* – Thursdays, 6-7:30pm, starting 1/11
  • Game Lab Open Play* – Fridays, 6-7:30pm, starting 1/12
  • School is Out Mini-Camp – Various days, 9am-4pm, starting 1/15
• January
  • Maker Club – Introduction to Raspberry Pi – 10am-3pm on 1/20
  • Coder Girls Club – Level 1 – Saturdays, 1-3pm, starting 1/27
  • Coder Girls Club – Level 2 – Saturdays, 10am-12pm or 3pm (see course description), starting 1/27
• February-March
  • Introduction to Programming – Tuesdays, 5:45-6:45pm, starting 2/6
  • Introduction to Calligraphy & Hand Lettering – Tuesdays, 5:45-6:45pm, starting 2/6
  • Modding Lab* – Tuesdays, 6-8pm, starting 2/6 – continues through May
  • Modding Roblox – Level 1 – Tuesdays, 7-8pm, starting 2/6
  • Introduction to Animation – Wednesdays, 5:45-6:45, starting 2/7
  • YouTube Star (Video Production) – Wednesdays, 7-8pm, starting 2/7
• April-May
  • Game Design with Scratch – Tuesdays, 5:45-6:45pm, starting 4/3
  • Modding Minecraft – Level 1 – Tuesdays, 7-8pm, starting 4/3

We hope to add some more in the coming weeks, so check our web site and social media for updates. If you would like us to add a specific class, please let us know! We’ll do our best to accommodate you.