Summer 2026 · Founding Cohort

Your child reads The Wild Robot. Builds a real robot. Writes the story of what happens when it lands in their world.

A 4-week online summer camp for children aged 9–13. July 6 – July 31, 2026.

Four weeks. One book. One world. One robot. One story only your child could tell.

Learn more

Why Bitsized exists

Parents of 9-to-13-year-olds face a familiar summer choice. Coding camps teach real skills. Reading programs build real thinking. But for many children, the connection between the two — between what they read, what they build, and what they tell — doesn't get made. Bitsized was built to make that connection.

What would a Roz landing in your world see?

Over four weeks, each child reads The Wild Robot and uses it as the design brief for their own adventure. Using a micro:bit and an electronics kit, they build their own Roz from the wires up — learning what's inside the box of the robots and devices around them.

They learn to look at their own lived world with new eyes — their bedroom, their street, their backyard, transformed into Roz's island. They learn to observe, to communicate, and to use the tools they're building to answer questions worth asking.

The technology is not the goal. The story is. The robot they create helps them explore the world they've discovered. Bitsized teaches children to sharpen their why before they reach for a tool — because tools without reasons are just complexity for its own sake.

A week in the program

Week 1 — Observation

In the book, Roz wakes up on a wild island and learns to see it for the first time. Children begin to look at their own world the way she does — noticing what has been in front of them all along. The robot they're building wakes up too, and shows its first emotion.

Week 2 — Problem-solving

In the book, Roz faces problems she has never seen before and finds her way through them. Children look for the problems in their own environment and write them into their story. Coding and electronics become the way they break problems down and build solutions. The robot they're building learns to sense temperature.

Week 3 — Action

In the book, Roz no longer just senses the world — she moves, she chooses, she acts on what she has learned. Children decide what their own robot would do about the problems they've found. The robot they're building learns to move across the world they've made for it.

Week 4 — Belonging

In the book, Roz learns to recognize the animals on her island. In the program, the child teaches their own robot to do the same — to recognize them. Children bring everything together and ask the question Peter Brown quietly asks too: what does it mean to belong somewhere?

On the final day, the child performs the story they've written — with the robot they built acting it out — for you.

Each day: off-screen first, then on-screen

📖 Off-screen first

Each day's lesson assigns chapters from The Wild Robot. Your child reads on their own time, in their own space — in bed, on the couch, at the breakfast table.

🔧 Then on-screen and at the table

The day is built around a hands-on coding and electronics challenge, scaffolded with up to three short videos, follow-along guides, prototyping prompts, and step-by-step build instructions. Coding happens on-screen; wires, sensors, motors, and micro:bit are hands-on at the table.

Most of the day is off-screen. A focused day runs 1 to 2 hours of building, coding, and writing — plus 20 to 40 minutes of reading on your child's own schedule.

What you get

Program Access

$165 per child
  • Four weeks of daily lessons, July 6 – July 31, 2026
  • Founder video standups, coding walkthroughs, and story-craft prompts
  • Block-based coding environment (MakeCode) for first-time coders
  • Direct line to the founder, with a two-hour weekly support cap
  • Final showcase on Day 20 — your child performs their story for you

Hardware

~$95 CAD, purchased separately
  • The Wild Robot by Peter Brown — ~$10–15 new, free at most libraries
  • Freenove Ultimate Starter Kit with micro:bit V2 included — ~$95 on Amazon.ca

We chose this kit because it has far more in it than Bitsized uses in four weeks. The same hardware powers every Bitsized program that follows. Your child keeps every component to tinker with, build with, and explore long after camp ends. The kit you order today is the foundation for years of building.

What founding families keep

This July's cohort is capped at ten to fifteen families on purpose — small enough that every family gets my full attention. Founding families do not get less of Bitsized because it is the first cohort. They get more.

🔓

You keep your program access. Login stays active, content stays available for as long as Bitsized runs.

💬

You keep a direct line to me for any questions about what your child built.

🏷️

You receive a 15% founding-family discount on every Bitsized program that follows — September, December, and beyond.

My commitment to founding families is direct access, full attention, and everything in my power to make Bitsized worth what you have invested.

Having spent a significant portion of my career working in STEM education, I realized the disconnect between learning and everyday application. I believe closing that gap is what creates a love for learning and makes the journey more exciting.
— Zibusiso, Founder of Bitsized

You will not find testimonials here

This is the founding cohort. It hasn't happened yet. The first families to join help write what comes next.

What Bitsized is built on instead of testimonials: a curriculum designed against a real book, a real electronics kit, and a real four-week arc that has been pressure-tested and locked. A founder who is reachable, by name. And a commitment to do everything in my power to make this worth your $165.

Questions you may have

Yes. Bitsized is designed for first-timers. We use a block-based coding environment built for beginners, and the electronics kit assumes no prior knowledge.

If your child has coded before, Bitsized will still expand their sphere. Beyond making code work, they will learn what to build a tool for in the first place — and the electronics underneath the micro:bit: how components connect, how a small computer responds to the world, how the code they write moves real things in the physical world.

Whether your child is starting from zero or has been coding for a year, the question is the same: what is the story you want to tell, and what would you need to tell it?

The daily lesson stays accessible for the rest of camp. But each day builds on the one before, so missing more than two or three days will leave gaps that hurt the final performance. If you will be away for more than a long weekend during July, the founding cohort may not be the right fit.

Set up the space. Observe, don't teach. Listen well on Day 20 when your child performs their story for you. We'll send a short guide before showcase day.

No. The founding cohort is priced low and kept small specifically because the families who join are investing in the program — not buying a guaranteed outcome. What you do get is my commitment that if your child is struggling, I will work with you to figure out what we can do.

Free trials produce polite feedback. Paid families tell the truth. I need real feedback to build a real program.

Join the founding cohort

10 to 15 families July 6 – July 31, 2026 $165 per child Hardware ~$95–110 CAD

The best way to join is to book a fifteen-minute call with me. We will make sure Bitsized is the right fit for your child, and I will answer any questions a website cannot.

Is Bitsized right for your child?

May not be the right fit if

  • Your child needs live, scheduled classes to stay engaged
  • You are looking for a program where the only goal is to advance technical skills, with no narrative or design thinking behind them
  • You will not be able to be present for your child's final showcase on Friday July 31

May be a fit if

  • Your child is curious — about stories, about how things work, or both
  • You'd rather your child's screen time go toward building something than scrolling through something
  • You are willing to observe rather than teach during the program
  • You believe a 9-to-13-year-old can build something extraordinary if given the right tools, the right book, and the right time