Creativity! Creativity! Creativity! Like any high quality robotics program for kids, we provide programming tools, motors, sensors, and technical building components (e.g. gears, pulleys, beams etc). However, Wizbots is all about fostering creativity and innovation, and is fundamentally a design program. In our view, learning the creative problem-solving skills involved in design are more valuable than learning how to make a motor spin. With this in mind, we provide a much wider range of building materials to work with, more creative freedom, and a diversity of projects and activities, to continuously engage and expand the interests and imagination of the kids.

Definitely! People often think robotics is a boy thing. But design is universal, and robotics is really just a (superb) vehicle for creativity and problem solving. Anyway, generalizations are dangerous. We specifically include a diversity of colorful materials, drawn from arts and crafts supplies, to allow for a greater range of project types that often appeal more to girls. We provide activities that emphasize collaboration, communication, and out of the box thinking. The results are amazing for boys and girls alike.

Absolutely! Our curriculum levels stretch from Novice to Master. We get into advanced mechanisms including gear-trains and linkages. We also allow advanced programming including multi-level conditional logic, loops, parallel programming, and functions. We have sensors available that go beyond the standard LEGO Mindstorm gear, including programming robots to respond to signals from a PlayStation controller, using gyroscopes, and accelerometers. More importantly, our program admits huge diversity of projects which require kids to integrate all they know to design something themselves to either serve a function (like a product), complete a challenge, or compete in a game. Because the real-world can be very challenging, it is very easy to find ways to engage and challenge even the most advanced kids. Finally, our program does not follow a set path for the whole class. It is designed to allow for a multi-level, multi-age lab environment, and we do this all year round.

We certainly understand kids’ desire to keep their special creations, but unfortunately no, kids do not get to take their actual robot home with them. Mainly, the robotics equipment we use is simply too expensive and we use it all year-round for all of our programs. We do offer, though, the next best thing! Whenever kids complete a project, we take a video of them explaining their creation then we post their video to our "Wonderwall" on our website. You will be automatically notified whenever a new video for your child is available for viewing. And, you'll have the option to share it with family and friends!

If your child ever has a project uploaded to our Wonderwall, you will automatically receive an email notification with a link to the project. To see all of the videos collectively, simply visit the Wonderwall page of our website. Make sure you are logged in to our website and you will be able to see all of your child’s videos that are private to you, plus any videos that have been shared with the public. If there are many, simply use the search box. You will also be able to share your videos with family and friends!

At this point in time, we do not have download capability available for our videos as we take the privacy of our students and families very seriously and want to be able to maintain control of the content in order to protect that privacy. It is most often the case that students work together on projects, and thus multiple students are in a single video together. If videos were downloaded, we could not ensure that they would not be uploaded to YouTube, Facebook, or some other medium. However, your child's projects will forever be available on our Wonderwall for you to access at any time. It is possible, and we do encourage parents, to share project videos with family and friends through our secure website.

Absolutely! We run 90-minute parties on weekends. We will do Birthday parties by request. To find out more, please visit our Birthday Parties page and submit an inquiry.

Our Tax ID is 84-2523997

Whether your camper is joining us all day or for half a day, their time will be a mixture of indoor robotics and outside energy releases. A Half Day camp (either 9am-12pm, or 1pm-4pm) will include mostly Robotics project time with an outdoor break half-way through. Our All Day campers will experience all our Half Day campers do, as well as a one-hour supervised lunch break. Here is what a typical day looks like:

9am - Gathering activity, ice breakers, kick-off for the day
9:15 - Robotics project time
10:30 - Brain Break - outside on playground, snack time
10:45 - Robotics project time
12pm - Morning campers leave; All Day campers have lunch & free time
1pm - Afternoon campers arrive; Repeat morning schedule with new projects
2:30 - Brain Break - outside on playground, snack time
2:45 - Robotics project time
4pm - Camp ends

Because the majority of the robotics project work takes place inside, we encourage campers at extended care to spend their extra time outside enjoying the beautiful summer sunshine. Our camps are located on school campuses such that playgrounds are available, and we also plan other games and activities for campers to play. All extended care hours are completely supervised by our staff members, as camper safety is our top priority.

While we do not have extended care before our Morning camp begins, our staff will be ready to greet you as early as 8:45am.

Our summer camps typically have a maximum of 24 campers at a time, ranging in age from 8-14. While this seems like a large age spread, keep in mind that campers work together in pairs on their projects, and we form partnerships based on similar ages and/or abilities. Campers are also encouraged to try new partners with each new project as we believe learning about team work is just as important as learning how to program a robot. Our Inventor Mentors who run our year-round after school programs and lead our summer camps are adept at managing multi-age, multi-ability groups of students. As well, our Mentors have at least 2 Assistants in each camp such that our camper to staff ratio is 8:1.

Well, yes and no! Wizbots unique and in-depth project-based curriculum, which we call the Path to Mastery, includes 7 levels of competence, providing kids with years of project challenges. At each level, kids learn to master various programming skills, mechanisms, structures, and imagineering tasks. Because our programs run year-round, kids can join in at any time to begin and then continue their progress along this path. Kids work at their own pace, are always doing new projects, and earn Wizbands (similar to karate belts) as they achieve advancement to new levels. Thus, from week to week, campers are always doing something new and engaging! Each camper also has their own private Profile webpage where you may track your child’s progress.

Summer camps allow students to further immerse themselves by giving them more of what they love. More time, more space, more projects, more materials, and more kids to hang with. That’s what summer is all about!

We definitely ask that your child is at least 8 years old and will be entering 3rd grade in the Fall. We want every camper to be successful and have fun, and through our experience, we've found that younger campers are not ready for the challenges in our Lab. Specifically, kids need to: (1) be able to handle the collaboration that is required in our Lab (as kids work in pairs and learn all about working together to iteratively design and implement a project), (2) have the fine motor skills required to work with some tiny equipment and type on laptop keyboards, and (3) have the ability to tackle real computer programming tasks. Your young child can join us in a future year!

Our summer camps have a maximum of 24 campers at a time. Each camp is run by one of our Lead Inventor Mentors, with at least 2 Assistants such that our camper to staff ratio is a maximum of 8:1.

The safety of our campers is a top priority. Our staff members go through a criminal history background check through the California Department of Justice, get certified in first-aide/CPR, and are TB tested as well. We require all campers to be signed in and out each day unless you have notified us that your child is able to sign themselves out. Parents must also give us a list of all people approved to sign out their child.

No, we do not give our campers food of any kind. We ask that each camper bring his/her own lunch, snacks and beverages. And, we also ask that you refrain from sending in any food items containing nuts as we maintain a nut-free environment for our camps.

While we do not offer discounts, Wizbots provides the best value pricing we can at all times. We like to make expensive robotics affordable to all. (We're kind of like the Trader Joe's of summer camps!) We do, however, offer financial assistance to those in need. Please send inquiries to info@wizbots.com.

If a family wishes to cancel an enrollment before April 1st, a $25 processing fee per camp will be charged, and the remaining fees returned. For requests after April 1st and at least three weeks prior to the first day of the camp, a cancellation fee of 25% will be charged, and the remaining fees returned. We are sorry, but there are no refunds given for Summer Camps within 3 weeks of the start of a camp. If a family needs to drop a program after it has started due to extenuating circumstances, a cancellation fee of 25% of the remaining days will be charged, and the fees for the remaining days returned. Programs may be canceled by Wizbots if a minimum enrollment has not been achieved. In the event a program is cancelled, all enrollment fees will be returned.

Absolutely. As long as there is still space in the particular camp of interest, you can switch one week's registration to the other week without any penalty.

We respect our staff's time and responsibilities, and we hope you will too. If you need to be late collecting your Morning or Afternoon camper, please contact us to make arrangements for them to be included in extended care time. If your camper is already included in extended care until 6pm, our staff will collect from you a late charge of $10 cash for every 10 minutes you are late beyond 6pm. Thank you for your understanding.

Well, yes and no! Wizbots unique and in-depth project-based curriculum, which we call the Path to Mastery, includes 7 levels of competence, providing kids with years of project challenges. At each level, kids learn to master various programming skills, mechanisms, structures, and imagineering tasks. Because our programs run year-round, kids can join in at any time to begin and then continue their progress along this path. Kids work at their own pace, are always doing new projects, and earn Wizbands (similar to karate belts) as they achieve advancement to new levels. Thus, from season to season, students are always doing something new and engaging! You may track your child’s progress at their Profile page.

Our primary objective is to stimulate interest in science, technology, engineering and math, within the framework of empowering kids to innovate. More concretely, we teach the kids goal-setting, brainstorming, how to evaluate design choices, rapid-prototyping, the importance of testing your ideas and critical evaluation. We also teach structures, mechanisms, and programming. Discussions and concepts in science - especially physics - come up all the time as kids struggle to make a moving object do their bidding in the physical world. Maths also comes up, especially in the context of programming where logic, number types, units of measure, arithmetic, and functions become important. Wizbots is not a place where we lecture the kids from the front of the class. It is a demand driven approach where we focus on getting kids to ask good questions, and think about problems. It is the job of our skilled mentors to encourage this, and be ready with the right nuggets of knowledge and skill when the opportunity arises. Of course we get the kids started with tutorials as we introduce new material!
Secondary benefits relate to social interaction with kids of shared interests. Wizbots is very collaborative, with pairs working together, class-level discussions and games. This is helpful to build confidence, communication skills and friendships.

Check out our after school programs to find out if there is a program already scheduled at your school. You will find an easily searchable database of all our current locations and scheduled programs. If you don't find your school, please email us at info@wizbots.com so we can investigate whether our program would be a good fit at your school!

Wizbots is expanding throughout the Bay Area. If we are not at your school, and you would like us to be, email info@wizbots.com and we will follow up with you to make it happen.

Yes, students attend our Lab directly after the end of their school day, and parents may pick up their children when the Lab has ended. Parents are asked not to stay during class because we have found it is stressful for our students. You will still, however, be able to see all the fruits of your child’s labor as videos become available online for each of their completed projects.

Wizbots after school Labs are offered to students in grades 3-8. Through our experience, we've found that kids typically need to be at least 8 years old and in 3rd grade to: (1) be able to handle the collaboration that is required in our Lab (as kids work in pairs and learn all about working together to iteratively design and implement a project), (2) have the fine motor skills required to work with some tiny equipment and type on laptop keyboards, and (3) have the ability to tackle real computer programming tasks. In addition, we have entered into agreements with each of our schools such that the school defines a set group of grade levels that have the ability to enroll in our program and work together. Our classes are very small - typically up to 12 students - so only a few students are able to enroll and, because they work in pairs, they need to be able to work with other students their same age. If you still have a question, please email us at info@wizbots.com.

Not at all. Of course, they will miss out on fun creation time, but there is no particular instruction that a student will miss because our teaching style is "just-in-time" - explaining new concepts as each student needs it. We always have students within a Lab working on different projects and working at different levels. Students can just jump right back in when they return.

If a family wishes to cancel an enrollment before a program begins, a cancellation fee of 25% will be charged, and the remaining fees returned. If a family wishes to cancel a program after it has started, a cancellation fee of 25% of the remaining days will be charged, and the fees for the remaining days returned. Programs may be canceled by Wizbots if a minimum enrollment has not been achieved. In the event a program is cancelled, all enrollment fees will be returned.