WordCamp Nordic Hosts Successful Kids Workshop

WordCamp Nordic hosted a successful kids workshop over the weekend where participants learned how to start publishing with WordPress. The event was held during Contributor Day at the same venue, tucked into a comfortable corner with soft chairs and ample floor space for the kids to stretch out.

Petya Raykovska led the workshop and participants followed along with the help of a large screen for demonstrating basic publishing-related tasks. The kids learned how to use the editor, add text and images, create galleries, and customize their sites by selecting a theme. Each participant left the workshop with their own WordPress site hosted at WordPress.com.

“It’s like an exercise in creativity, showing them how to use a tool to express themselves on the web,” Raykovska said.

Teaching kids how to use WordPress is far easier than teaching adults how to use it for the first time, because they don’t have preconceived notions about how the editor should behave. Raykovska said the group at WordCamp Nordic had no issues using Gutenberg.

“It doesn’t matter for them what editor they use,” Raykovska said. “They are very intuitive; they go along with anything that comes their way.”

She also reported that many of the kids from past kids workshop events have kept their blogs going and maintain strong relationships with the volunteers who helped them get started.

Each kids workshop is a new opportunity for organizers to test and refine different methods for teaching kids how to use WordPress. As these workshops become more common at WordCamps around the globe, it would be exciting to see them grow to become large scale events where more experienced kids can present on what they are learning and doing with WordPress.

If you are interested in running a kids workshop at another WordCamp, Raykovska has created an organizer kit for training the next generation of WordPress users and developers. It includes all the tasks and requirements for organizing this type of event, sample content, and a workshop script that organizers can follow.