Control the lights on one of the White House Christmas trees with programming

Google and the National Park Service have collaborated to help promote coding, programming and computer science with kids across the world. The current holiday coding project leads students through programming the lights with a series of variables and settings. When finished, you can submit your tree design, choose a state or territory, and you are given a date and time your tree design will appear.  Hint: If you don’t want to choose your state, you can choose a less populated on for an earlier date. You can then view the YouTube channel shown below at your assigned date and time to see the fruits of your labor.

This activity will give students exposure to the fundamental concepts and logical thinking necessary for programming and requires no existing programming knowledge. It is a very cool way to see the real world results of something you learn in class. Try it out here: holidays.madewithcode.com (click the “Code the Holidays” button)

The website Made w/ Code promotes programming and computer science among students, and specifically aims to inspire girls to pursue computer science interests. Check out their projects page for a great series of introductory projects to help spark and interest in programming, coding, and computer science.

View your completed Holiday Tree Lights on the Official White House YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czuKL4PvPpE