Kanata · Ontario
Scratch, Python, app development and AI classes for children ages 5 to 14 — in-person, small-group, project-based coding taught by an experienced coach, minutes from Kanata. Free demo class available.
Kanata is Ottawa's tech corridor, and a lot of parents here want more for their kids than a shiny "learn to code" app. STEMXplore runs weekly, in-person coding classes for children ages 5 to 14, with a real curriculum that grows with each child. Families join us from Bridlewood, Katimavik, Kanata Lakes, Morgan's Grant, Beaverbrook and Marchwood-Lakeside, most within a 10-minute drive of our Stittsville studio.
Our lead instructor has more than a decade of software engineering, STEM curriculum design and international competition-coaching experience. Every class is small, hands-on and project-based — kids leave with a working project every session, not a video they half-watched.
One reason Kanata parents come to us is that we do not just "teach coding". We build a pathway — a five-to-fourteen curriculum where each stage prepares the next, and no stage is a dead end.
Kids learn the underlying mental model of code — sequence, loops, events, conditionals — through visual block programming. Projects include animated stories, small arcade games and interactive quizzes.
Students now write more sophisticated Scratch projects and start touching real hardware through the Quarky microcontroller: LED strips, buzzers, IR sensors. This bridges "code that draws" and "code that does something in the world".
The bridge from block coding to real text-based programming. Kids start with turtle graphics, move to text games, then explore data structures, functions and classes. Every unit is anchored to a project the child chose.
Older students learn mobile app fundamentals (MIT App Inventor / Thunkable), UI/UX basics and a hands-on AI unit — image classification, chatbot concepts, simple neural networks — using tools designed for young learners.
A subscription coding app cannot notice when a child is quietly confused, cannot push a bored child, and cannot ask "OK — so what if we tried it this way?" A live coach can, and does, every week. Add small groups (typically 6–10 kids) and Kanata parents get personal attention that is hard to buy any other way.
Our classes also have a definite outcome. By the end of a term, a child has three to five real, finished projects — a portfolio, not an unfinished streak on an app.
Whenever a Kanata school is closed for PD Day, March Break or Summer, STEMXplore runs full-day coding camps: Scratch Game Studio, Python Bootcamp, App Studio, and our AI for Kids intensive. Camps run in small groups so every child leaves with a finished, shareable project. Camp dates for the current season are on the Upcoming Events, Camps & PD Days section of our homepage.
Below are the questions that come up in almost every demo booking from Kanata. If yours is not here, ask us during your free demo — we prefer honest conversations to sales scripts.
Our studio is in Stittsville — under 10 minutes from most Kanata neighbourhoods. We chose this location so we could offer a wide weekday and weekend schedule with small class sizes.
Under age 10, almost always Scratch. Above age 10, either advanced Scratch or Python depending on the child's reading and typing ability. We do a short placement session to decide.
Yes. Coding is now a general-purpose thinking tool — it teaches decomposition, precision and iteration. Most kids who go through STEMXplore never become professional developers, but every one of them thinks more clearly.
Yes. Every new student takes a short placement session so they enter at the right level, regardless of age.
Yes, on request — most often for competition prep or for a specific school computer-science course.
Only if a child wants it. Every session ends with an optional mini-challenge; kids who love coding will happily fill a week with it.
Every new family can book a complimentary demo session. Your child works with real robotics kits and our lead instructor — no pressure, no cost.
Book a Free Demo Class