It’s a Tuesday afternoon, and while many elementary school students are just beginning to unwind from a long school day, a group of 10 children ranging from ages six to nine is sitting down to a city council meeting at Kidizens, an education program in Los Alto and Belmont.
The issue at hand? A house in their city, LEGO Mountain, has been suddenly revealed to be of historical value. Some residents are pushing to go ahead with a previous proposal to convert the building into a homeless shelter, while others insist that the house should be preserved as a historic site.
One by one, the children stand in front of the group to present their respective arguments until finally, the issue is brought to an anonymous vote. The consensus? Rather than destroying the house, the kids decide to preserve it for the future.
Another problem solved by the kids of Kidizens
It’s all in a day’s play for Kidizens, which has been using LEGO bricks
to forge a new framework for experiential learning since 2010.
At Kidizens, children work together to create a community using LEGO bricks- fun!
Learning based on interaction and collaboration
The premise of Kidizens is relatively simple: Kids build a city out of LEGOs and act as the city government, creating its infrastructure and forming a new community.
Instructors act as guides, but kids take the lead
During the highly interactive process of building and running a city, children gain skills such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and leadership. Every group of kids is paired with a teacher/facilitator, who provides historical and local perspectives to ground the children’s discussions.
The teacher’s role is as a guide only, as the children are responsible for making all of the rules, voting on proposals, and ensuring participation for the decisions. Kidizens instructors have experience working in traditional classrooms as well as in robotics, design and other fields.
Unique summer camps and more
Kidizens’ flagship program is for kids ages eight through 11, but there are additional offerings for younger children (Young Kidizens) as well as leadership opportunities for students who have completed the core program.
Every summer, hundreds of Kidizens cities are built throughout during Kidizens’ popular “Young Mayors” summer camps, which are jam-packed with LEGO building, action, and excitement. Kidizens also offers in-school workshops (customized to meet teacher-specific social-studies objectives), weekend birthday parties, robotics classes, and group drop-in sessions.
Rave parent reviews
A glance at the reviews for Kidizens reveals why the program has grown over the past nine years.
“My son loves coming to Kidizens each week,” said one parent. “The hands-on experience of actually building a city from the ground up has been very exciting for him. Along the way, he ran for mayor, worked on public and private transportation projects and created his own business. He will definitely be a more informed citizen and what fun it was in the process!”
Open-ended learning with a focus on fun
Throughout their diverse range of programs, Kidizens provides a place for children to explore possibilities and come to their own conclusions without any preconceived notion of what “the answer” or “best way” should be.
It’s a way to learn that offers a welcome break from the focus on grades and test scores that can dominate many traditional education environments. And the best part? Kidizens is a ton of fun.
How to learn more about Kidizens
To schedule a visit, or for more information, email info@kidzzinc.com, or visit the Kidizen website.
A note from the editor
Palo Alto Pulse usually only covers people, businesses and events in Palo Alto, but Kidizens has been a strong supporter of the BEAM program at Gunn High School so we wanted to share this fun program with our readers. Thanks, Kidizens, for helping Gloria Xiao and other Gunn High students to gain real-world experience!
