From a CANVAS Facebook post

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Yesterday, Wednesday, December 7, we held a “Hour of Code: Minecraft Edition” workshop at the Shibuya Ward Children’s Science Center Hachilab,
together with the “Kids Programming Supporters” from Microsoft
Japan Co., Ltd.!

Use the “Minecraft Hour of Code Designer,” released in November,
to try your hand at programming within the world of Minecraft!
In each of the 12 stages, you’ll program creatures that appear in the game—such as chickens, creepers, and
zombies—to build your own game world.
Once you’ve written your code, you can even control the player yourself and play the game.
“How can I make the program work the way I want?
” Friends helped each other out as they tackled the challenges together, creating a cheerful atmosphere filled with
laughter and chatter.

Since this event was held in conjunction with “Computer Science Education Week”—an initiative that brings
computer science learning opportunities to children around the world—there was also a presentation by high school students from our
neighboring country, South Korea, on
the digital projects they’re working on.
Via Skype, they showed us robots that sort objects by color and robots that stand
on two legs to sing and dance, prompting spontaneous cheers from the audience. It was truly impressive to see them doing their very best to express their gratitude using the English and Korean they
knew, as well as gestures.

An hour and a half flew by in the blink of an eye, and we heard many participants say, “I want to do more!” Since you can play on tablets or computers with
internet access,
we’d love for you to give it a try together with your parents.
*Minecraft Hour of Code (Hour of Code: Minecraft Edition)
https://code.org/minecraft

We plan to continue holding
workshops with our “Kids Programming Supporters” at Hachilab and our Shinagawa office!

*This event was held as part of the “YouthSpark: Programming for ALL” project, a collaboration between Microsoft Japan Co., Ltd. and CANVAS aimed
at promoting programming education.

*About
Hour of Code: This is a programming learning environment and project name created
by “Code.org,” a U.S.-based organization dedicated to promoting programming.
It features designs popular with children,
such as those from *Frozen*, and incorporates
a game-like element where users complete a series of “challenges” as they appear. It is a learning resource well-suited for self-study and is being widely adopted around the world.
https://hourofcode.com/jp