Over the years, TechKnowHow has grown and served tens of thousands of students in the San Francisco Bay Area. Last year, the summer camps alone drew over 3,000 participants from the region!

The TechKnowHow franchise system features a range of afterschool classes, summer camps, and birthday parties for children and teens, ages 3-14. Some of our current programs include:

Build and Learn Classes with LEGO® elements

A variety of building with LEGO®-elements classes where students learn design and engineering as they build unique creations, many which are powered with battery packs and motors. Students use gears, pulleys, lights, and even remote-controls as they take their building skills to the next level.  

All classes feature teacher-led instruction, easy-to-follow handouts with building directions, and student kits which contain necessary LEGO® parts.

Robotics & Programming LEGO® WeDo®

Students use LEGO® WeDo® components and engineering principles to build their own robotics projects to solve challenges such as controlling a vehicle with sensors, making a conveyor belt to move products, designing a door that automatically opens and closes when a combination is keyed, and more. The challenges teach about simple machines, including the use of gears and pulleys, and include robotics programming.

We provide students with a project which teaches about an engineering concept and/or device, then provide a challenge. They build a solution and program its movement. Programming is easy with MIT's Scratch® software and with LEGO® WeDo® software - students sequence programming blocks on the screen to create the instructions to run their machines.

Robotics & Programming with LEGO® Mindstorms® EV3®

LEGO®-based robotics classes where students explore the world of robots through hands-on projects. Build robots which respond to the environment using the Mindstorms® EV3® microcomputer and sensors.

Students build and program their robots to complete missions. The icon- based programing introduces students to computer science concepts, and allows them to easily experiment with program structure and settings.

Learn advanced building techniques through the vehicle and humanoid robot projects. Then, program the bots using the icon-based LEGO® MINDSTORMS®/LabView® software. Students develop skills in logical thinking, programming with objects, and use of functions, such as loops and conditional statements.

Programming with Python®

Students learn to program in Python® by creating text-based games, such as number and logic games, an interactive arcade-style game, and interesting art and animations. You will learn how to construct text and images on the screen, prompt users for input, generate calculations, use variables and loops, and more!

Python® is the perfect language for learning computer programming because it is easy to understand and widely used and valued. Compared to other programming languages, Python is very similar to writing in English, and requires fewer lines of code. Many businesses use it - NASA and Google, for instance - and it often is the first language taught at many top universities. Getting comfortable with Python at an early age is a terrific foundation for future programming success.

Programming with Java®

Students learn the Java-based Processing® language to construct interactive graphics, animations, and games. Students write code to produce graphics from the very first lesson, so they receive immediate visual feedback from the get-go. They will work through projects that cover the most important fundamentals of coding such as variables, functions, loops, conditionals, arrays, and basic object-oriented programming (OOP), including linked lists and inheritance.

Processing® is built on Java®, has almost the identical language syntax, but adds custom features related to graphics and interactivity. This makes Processing® unique in that it allows users the chance to create games, art, and animations relatively quickly with code. Learning Java® through Processing® is a terrific foundation to learn additional programming languages.

Birthday Parties

TechKnowHow offers birthday parties featuring hands-on building of motorized vehicles using LEGO® elements, along with unique party games and decorations.

Special TechKnowHow party features include a kid-size minifig cardboard greeter (with recordable message), a birthday banner, custom balloons, and printable templates for party invitations and favors.