Between students working to create their own games, Introduction to Computer Programming Using Scratch 2.0 instructor Tim McGuire offered tips and examples of other ways to improve their projects on Thursday, July 10.

The course, which was offered through Newtown Continuing Education, ran July 7-11. Mr McGuire, the computer technology teacher at Reed Intermediate School, also offered a WeDo Robotics and a Minecraft course this summer.

According to a description for the Introduction to Computer Programming course, students in grades three and up were introduced to basic elements of computer programming, and taught how to create an interactive video game or animation using Scratch, a computer programming software developed by the MIT Media Lab.

“Whatever you come up with you can do,” Mr McGuire said on Thursday, while students worked on their games.

Most students, Mr McGuire explained, chose to create “avoidance games” with one character or object being controlled by the player to avoid something.

Brendan Grant, a 2014 Newtown High School graduate, helped oversee the camp. By Thursday, Brendan said the students were having fun making and designing games and characters for those games.

One student said he was working to create an “octopus maze” that had the player control an octopus through a maze while trying to avoid a shark.

Another student worked on a “donut escape” that had the player navigate a donut away from a “hun-gry cat,” and one student worked on a game that had the player run away from a dragon.

More information about Newtown Continuing Education’s summer camp offerings is available online.