Stittsville · 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 in Stittsville. Free demo available.
STEMXplore runs structured coding classes for children ages 5 to 14 in Stittsville, Ontario. Unlike online-only apps, our classes are in-person, small-group and taught by a lead instructor with more than a decade of software engineering and STEM curriculum experience. Every session ends with a working program a child can show their family — a game, an animation, a script, or an app.
We are a short drive from Fernbank, Amberwood, Bridlewood and Hazeldean, so most Stittsville families do not need to head into central Ottawa for high-quality coding instruction. Terms align with the OCDSB and OCSB school year and our camps cover every major PD Day and school break.
Great coding education is progressive: you cannot start a seven-year-old on Python, and a bored twelve-year-old will not stay engaged in Scratch forever. Our pathway matches the language and tools to a child's cognitive stage.
Block-based visual coding. Kids write games, animated stories and small musical projects. This stage builds the mental model of sequencing, loops, events and variables long before syntax matters.
Kids stop just moving cats around and start building real programs: a two-player quiz game, a Simon-says memory challenge, a virtual pet with a mood system. In parallel they meet physical computing through the Quarky microcontroller — code that turns real LEDs on and reads real sensors.
This is the bridge to "real" programming. We start with the turtle module for visual feedback, move to text-based games, then introduce data structures, functions and classes. Every concept is anchored to a project the child chooses.
Advanced students build mobile apps using MIT App Inventor and Thunkable, learn UI/UX fundamentals, and complete an AI unit covering image classification, natural-language basics and simple neural networks — all with hands-on tools designed for young learners.
Screen-only coding apps are great for a rainy Saturday afternoon, but they cannot answer a child's question, notice when a child is confused, or push a child who is bored. Live, small-group instruction does all three. Our Stittsville classroom is intentionally low-tech-per-child — one screen, one coach, one project — because that is when real learning happens.
And unlike a subscription app, our program has an end point: a portfolio of real projects and, for competition students, a place on our WRO / FLL team.
Whenever Stittsville schools are closed, STEMXplore runs full-day coding camps: Scratch Game Studio, Python Bootcamp, App Studio, and our AI for Kids intensive. Camps are small enough that every child leaves with a finished, publishable project. Dates for the current season are on the Upcoming Events, Camps & PD Days section of our homepage.
Some questions come up in almost every demo — we have collected them below.
Age five. Our ScratchJr and Junior LEGO tracks are designed for pre-readers, so a child can start coding before they can spell "coding".
Yes, but sparingly and always for a specific project. For our 5–7 group, most of a session is spent on the physical robotics kit, with 20–25 minutes of screen time to program it.
Scratch first, then Python. Almost every child under 10 benefits from mastering block-coding fundamentals before jumping into text syntax. Text-based coding is introduced when a child can comfortably read and type independently.
Yes. Every new student takes a placement session so they join a group that matches their skill level, not just their age.
Yes — private lessons are available on request, most commonly for students preparing for a specific competition or a school computer-science course.
Not required, but every child leaves with a saved project and a "if you want more" mini-challenge. Kids who love coding will spend hours on it between classes.
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