Microsoft's virtual summer camp lets kids explore and learn from anywhere

Even if your kid has to stay home this summer, they can explore the world with Microsoft's virtual summer camp.

What you need to know

• Microsoft has a virtual summer camp that includes digital events and workshops.
• Kids can learn how to code video games, virtually tour landmarks, and explore museums online.
• There are virtual tours of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, National Museum of Natural History, and more.

This summer, people may have to find new and creative ways to keep kids entertained and active. Microsoft has a series of events and workshops to help kids explore the world from anywhere. There are classes to learn how to code video games, virtual tours of famous museums, and events to explore landmarks and iconic regions online.

All of the events are part of what Microsoft calls a virtual summer camp. It's a free series of events from the Microsoft Store that people can take part in from home or while they travel.

Microsoft has an entire summer's worth of events but highlights a small group:

• Plan the perfect road trip: Students can design their ideal road trip across the United States by choosing up to three national parks or monuments to virtually explore in Bing maps, then build a souvenir PowerPoint presentation of their map, photos, and discoveries along the way.
• Discover ancient fossils: Dinosaur lovers and future scientists can tour the world-famous Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's newly renovated Hall of Fossils. The exhibit includes more than 700 specimens, including dinosaurs, plants, animals, and insects.
• Space Jam: A New Legacy coding workshops: Discover how video games are made and learn how to code your own game inspired by Space Jam: A New Legacy, starring LeBron James and Bugs Bunny. By the end of the sixty-minute workshop, students who are eight and older will have learned how to design basic elements of their own game and more.
• Create meaningful connections with Dear Evan Hansen musical: The Microsoft Store, in partnership with the Tony award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen, invites students aged 13 and older to a one-hour workshop that will explore how to create meaningful connections with friends, family, and communities during a time of social distancing.
• Design a space explorer: Students can take their coding skills to new heights with this 90-minute workshop that will help students practice fundamental and intermedial block-based coding to design a game using MakeCode arcade.

There are also Flipgrid events with designers, engineers, scientists, and more on the way, but Microsoft doesn't list any specific events at this time.

You can browse the entire catalogue of workshops and digital events to see if there's something your child is interested in.