Apple Will Be Holding ‘Apple Camp at Home’ Sessions for Kids This Summer

People and businesses are continuing to adapt and overcome in the midst of the ongoing global health crisis, and it looks like it won’t be slowing down Apple’s usual collection of summer activities.

We already know that WWDC 2020 will be continuing more or less as planned in terms of what Apple is going to unveil, which will undoubtedly include the latest major updates to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS, and could even include some cool new hardware. The only difference is that it’s being held online instead of having people attend in person, which also means it will benefit many more developers.

Of course, WWDC is a big deal, so it’s obvious that Apple was going to find a way to run that no matter what, but the company isn’t stopping with its massive flagship events, and it turns out that it even plans to hold its annual free summer Apple Camps for kids, just with the usual remote twist for an era of social distancing.

Apple has been running its Apple Camps for the past few years with short in-store sessions for children aged 8–12 to help them learn new creative skills using Apple technology. For example, last year’s sessions included Creating Your Own Song with GarageBand, Designing Your Dream Park with iPad, Coding Fundamentals and Programming Robots, and Directing your Own Movie with Clips and iMovie, each made up of three 1.5-hour sessions over the course of a week, held in local Apple Stores across North America.

Apple Camp at Home

Even though Apple Stores are slowly reopening around the world, they’re still doing so with lots of restrictions in place, so Apple isn’t about to open them up to groups of children just yet. However, it’s not giving up on the idea entirely — like other activities it’s simply found a way to move it online.

This year’s initiative, dubbed Apple Camp at Home will take a slightly different twist by running 30-60 minute sessions via Webex while providing an Activity Book that kids can view or print out through Apple’s Pages app.

While the individual sessions haven’t been announced yet, Apple notes that there will be a combination of 30-minute “orientation”sessions, and 60-minute “Q&A” sessions, depending on the program, all hosted by Apple Store Creatives.

The Activity Book, on the other hand, will be self-guided with exercises that kids can complete at their own pace.

While kids will be able to participate from the comfort and safety of their own homes, the sessions will likely be more limited in scope than they were in past years since not all kids will have the same resources available. During Apple’s in-store Apple Camps, the company normally provides the necessary accessories like iPads, Apple Pencils, and coding robots for kids to use.

While so far Apple lists Pages as the only requirement, which is necessary to access the Activity Book, it’s unclear if certain sessions may be limited to kids who already own specific devices, such as an iPad or a Mac.

The sessions themselves will likely revolve around similar topics as in previous years, with Apple noting video, art & design, and coding as some of the topics, and it sounds like it will mostly be self-guided, with Apple Store Creatives hosting sessions primarily to introduce the topics and answer any questions that kids may have while working through the activities.

Apple hasn’t yet opened up the registrations for Apple Camp, but based on previous years we’ll probably see more information in the next week or so. Parents who are interested can sign up to be notified on the Apple Camp at Home website.