Girls at Code Club

I run a Code Club for 6 to 11 year olds at my sons' school on a Monday night for one hour. Find out more about the school here: /code-club-week-1/

There are just 4 girls out of the 12 kids who regularly attend. The girls are all in the same class and are good friends. Which is great! They're a good mix of personalities and are very cheerful.

I want the girls to feel welcome at Code Club and like they belong (cause they do!). Even with these confident girls and my lovely boys, I can see the girls being shouted over by the boys on occasion. I want to show the girls this is their space, they belong here, no one can tell them coding is not for girls.

I watched a talk at DojoCon last year from CoderDojo Clonakility about setting up a Girls' Table at their CoderDojo. They said it helped the girls feel welcome and made them bond. They decorated the table and made the space their own.

I started to do the same at my Code Club. The girls would shout "Where's the Girls' Table??" as soon as I moved a chair. I'd shout back "Make one!"

Today I asked them to design a sign for their table, one that I would laser cut.
Here's the design!!

The weird blobs are cuddly microbes which I call bugs. The students can cuddle a bug if they find a bug in their code. They REALLY like them!

This is the company that sell them: https://www.giantmicrobes.com/uk/

And here's the laser cut sign!