Catch a glimpse inside a school bus and you’ll see lots of kids looking down. What are they doing? They’re deciding on strategy, building cities, setting traps for monsters, sharing resources, and nurturing critical relationships.
Over 90 percent of kids ages 2–17 play video games. In Video Games: Design and Code Your Own Adventure, young readers learn why games are so compelling and what ancient games such as mancala have in common with modern games like Minecraft. Kids will even create their very own video games using software such as MIT's Scratch!
Using a familiar, high-interest subject, Video Games introduces foundation subjects such as geometry, physics, probability, and psychology in a practical framework. Building Tetris pieces out of Rice Crispie Treats and designing board games are some of the hands-on projects that engage readers’ building skills, while writing actual game code opens digital doors readers may not have known existed.
Kathy Ceceri is the author of activity books for beginners of all ages,including "Edible Inventions," "Paper Inventions," "Robotics: Discoverthe Science and Technology of the Future," and "Video Games: Design andCode Your Own Adventure." Her STEAM workshops for kids and educators are popular at schools, museums, libraries, and Maker Faires around thecountry. Kathy has written about the importance of hands-on learning asthe Homeschooling Expert for About.com (now Thoughtco.com), for websites including Wired.com, and numerous magazines and newspapers. She liveswith her family in Upstate New York.
Illustrator Mike Crosier holds an MFA from the Center for Cartoon Studies. He also illustrated Entrepreneurship: Create Your Own Business for Nomad Press. Mike lives in White River Junction, Vermont.