8th Grader Java Coding Camps - Breakout Mentors

Summer is an excellent opportunity for kids to code – more hours are available to discover new interests and dive deep on their passions. Kids coding summer camps are extremely popular, however you don’t want a one-size-fits-all camp. Make sure it is personalized to be certain they learn and have fun.

Breakout Mentors is centered around our talented mentors – Computer Science students at Stanford and UC Berkeley (also USF and SCU upon request). Our year-round mentoring pairs each kid with an exciting mentor for weekly 90 minute sessions – whether in person at the college, over video conference, or even in-home. They build a rapport together over months or years. The mentor provides the right balance of structured curriculum and encouragement of student creativity through fun projects.

During the summer we also offer a personalized camp option. Our mentors travel to the student’s home to work with a group of up to four friends, typically 3 hours a day for a week. We design a custom offering based on the group’s experience and interests. The perfect way to have fun and learn a ton!

Hear From a Student

Java For Kids Learning to Code

Many of our 8th grader students use Java to learn the programming fundamentals. Across the Bay Area we are currently working with 28 kids in Java.

It is an excellent language for learning to problem-solve like a computer scientist and to become comfortable with concepts like loops, conditionals, and functions. Mentors gradually challenge the students and introduce graphics to make exciting projects. Kids love making their own versions of games, including the classic Atari game Breakout. Mentors encourage the students to add their own creative features, like after hitting the ball five times the paddle shrinks.

As students progress, mentors are able to introduce more advanced concepts and encourage increasingly complex projects. 8th Graders who work with Breakout Mentors over months and years will eventually move to advanced Computer Science apps and projects.

What Parents Say

Breakout Mentors was exactly what we were looking for when our 11 year old son asked to learn programming. He connected quickly with his mentor, who has taught him things beyond our knowledge. After his last session, he tried to explain to me some aspect of the programming he just learned and then said ‘I feel so proud of myself.’ We are proud of him too and thankful for Breakout Mentors.

Father of 6th grade boy in Palo Alto

My son was interested in coding from a very young age. We have tons of books at home, however, only Breakout Mentors actually helped my son to build on his interest and develop some skills. The lessons are fun and introduce serious coding concepts in a way kids can grasp. My son started with making games in Scratch. Moving from little projects to bigger and more complex ones, he has learned the fundamentals and now is moving to Java. He shows me his work after each lesson since he is very proud of his accomplishments and can’t wait to show them off.

Mother of 6th grade boy in Oakland

Breakout Mentors did a wonderful job matching my daughter with a mentor – she is perfect! My daughter told me that she learned more from one session than her last 3 summer camps combined. She was so excited! Thank you – this is exactly what we were looking for!

Mother of 12 year old girl in Berkeley

My son loves video games and says he wants to create them when he’s older. We’ve sent him to many summer camps to learn beginner coding. Though he enjoyed them, he basically played video games all day. With Breakout Mentors he is finally actually learning, rather than just playing. I know the mentor is channeling my son’s excitement about computer games in a productive way. My son always looks forward to meeting his mentor.

Mother of 6th grade boy in Menlo Park

We just passed our second anniversary with Breakout Mentors. Our 12-year-old son has had two mentors and they’ve both been terrific: enthusiastic, knowledgeable, professional, and patient. They’ve been great about building a curriculum on the fly around his interests and keeping him engaged and learning. Highly recommended.

Father of 7th grade boy in Los Altos

Breakout Mentors was exactly what I was looking for. We started 2 years ago when my daughter was 11 and now she is an expert Scratch coder which translated easily into learning Python! Her mentors don’t tell her what to do, they help her figure it out. They push her to make her projects better and more complex. They treat her like a peer and do things like white boarding sessions and have passionate discussions about programming logic during her sessions. Both of her mentors have been women, which has been amazing. And an added benefit is she loves going to the CAL engineering library every week, wants to be an engineer and attend MIT! It’s ignited her passion about STEM subjects and she is so driven now. This program is truly amazing. I can’t say enough good things about it.

Mother of 13 year old girl in San Francisco

Student Showcase Presentation

Breakout Mentors has a people-first approach – our 50+ talented mentors are the secret to our success. Get to know our team!

Starting at $295 a Month

We offer several options to give parents the maximum flexibility.

Sessions are scheduled at a regular time each week with the flexibility to reschedule or skip. Which package is best for you?

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