Anywear Academy: A 5 day Educational Live-action Role-play STEM Camp

What You Need

Your Venue

How to make the most of your space?

When selecting a space, considerations need to be made for a crafting and class space that allows for group collaboration while not disturbing players on missions.

Things to note:

Sound isolation
Access to outlets

Crafting Space

Mission Space/ Set Design

Participant : Staff Recommended Ratio

You need at least 2 people for the first 5 campers. For every 5 kids after, we recommend one more staff member.

This is a hands-on learning experience and this ratio helps to ensure that each camper gets the attention they need while also helping to not overwhelm each staff member

Again, these can be supported by volunteers or junior staff.

Roleplay & Costuming

Everyone on your Staff team must also be comfortable playing a Character in Anywear Academy.

We have provided Staff Character templates that fit the narrative and plot of Anywear Academy but feel free to remix them into a character that fits your narrative.

Fully participating as an interactive character is what will create an immersive experience for the campers and let them be the heroes of their story.

Staffing Support

To successfully run this curriculum, we recommend having at least 2-3 staff to share the responsibility.

During Anywear Academy, you will need to wear many hats, or crowns.

Having someone prioritize at least one of these five skills will greatly improve the camp experience.

Professional experience is not required! Junior counselors and high schoolers can support these just as well.

Expertise can overlap, below we've listed general skillsets that are necessary to have a complete experience.

Teaching & Troubleshooting

Teaching the technical skills and troubleshooting (This person is more teacher like)

Responsible for running classes and handling technical issues encountered by campers

Improv & Storytelling

Supporting the camper’s introduction to role play (Improv Coach and Storyteller)

Responsible for setting the tone and getting campers more comfortable with role playing

Event Planning & Logistics

Overseeing the production of the larp (event planner, coordinator, or producer)

Responsible for the staffing logistics and keeping the camp running as smoothly as possible

Behavior Management & Fun Advocate

Someone to stay attuned to the campers interests and direct energy (Behavior Managment/Advocate)

Responsible for listening to the campers, adapting the larp to their interests, and positively redirecting behavior

Design Mentorship & Reflection

Supporting camper designs and providing feedback (Design mentor/prompts reflection)

Responsible for helping campers create their designs and improve them over time

Tech Support

Microbits

We recommend the Go Bundles because their box packaging can be reused as crafting materials for Familiars along with a 6 inch USB cable. However, the 2 unit battery pack does not supply enough power for both Micro:bit and accessories like LEDs or Servos). Hence larger battery packs will need to be purchased separately.

AAA Batteries & Battery Packs

The Battery Pack to run both Micro:bit and accessories it needs at least 4V.

Purchase AAA batteries as needed.

Web-Capable Devices

Web capable devices that can use MakeCode (Laptops, Desktops, Chromebooks, and many mobile devices or tablets are compatible)

LEDs

We recommend the Go Bundles because their box packaging can be reused as crafting materials for Familiars along with a USB cable. However, the 2 unit battery pack does not supply enough power for both Micro:bit and accessories like LEDs or Servos). Hence larger battery packs will need to be purchased separately.

Continuous Servos

For robotics projects involving movement. There are many that will work with the 3.3v Micro:bit, but we recommend this one.

Connectors

These JST SM connectors are compatible with the neopixels and can improve reusability in the hardware across projects.

Bolts on Kits

These allow for sturdy connections between the Micro:bit and the accessories without the need for soldering.
JST SM connectors will work as well.

MicroUSB Cables

MicroUSB cables are needed to upload code to the Micro:bits and are included in the Go Pack, but these ones are longer (2 meters)

Note On Other Maker Ecosystems

This camp was designed with the BBC Microbit and Microsoft MakeCode in mind, though many of the lessons and activities can be adapted to work with other related ecosystems of hardware and software.

If you have access to Adafruit Circuit Playgrounds Express, much of the MakeCode material can be used unchanged with some adaptation to exercises that use the radio transmitter or LED display for text.

If you are unable to source similar or related hardware but would like to use our missions and narrative approach, you are more than welcome to. When assessing hardware, keep these elements in mind: Look for an ecosystem that is open and connects to other platforms or communities. This is a wearables and textiles-centered curriculum, so look for form factors that would work well worn on the body. This camp is designed for students with no coding experience and it's good to pick a platform that is both approachable to allow campers to very quickly get into seeing their designs come to life but it's also important to introduce them to an ecosystem with opportunities for growth in to different domains or more complex projects.

Commercial exosystems like Adafruit and Sparkfun have a great deal of internal and external resources to become familiar with their projects. We recommend looking for block-based coding options for our camp, but if your students are more familiar with text based coding options, the activities in our camp can still be used to provide playful socially motivated learning opportunities.