What’s Happening
What’s Happening
🧊 Voxel Art & 3D Game Design: LEGO® Club + iCode! 🧱💻
Event: LEGO® Club When: Thursday, June 25, 2026, 3:30 PM – 4:15 PM Where: Somerset County Library System – Manville Branch (Community Room) Event link: SCLSNJ Manville Events Who it’s for: Kids in Grades K–5 Why we love it 💛 Every master builder has to start somewhere! The SCLSNJ Manville Branch is hosting an awesome, hands-on LEGO® Club where elementary students can bring their creativity and dive into new structural challenges. We absolutely love unstructured building sessions because snapping physical bricks together helps kids develop strong spatial awareness, test structural limits, and practice creating recognizable shapes using uniform blocks. How this event aligns with iCode Princeton 🌈⚙️ Building with LEGO bricks is the exact real-world equivalent of creating Voxel Art! Voxel Art & Minecraft Logic: In the digital world, a "Voxel" is basically a 3D pixel or block. When kids build houses or characters in games like Minecraft or Roblox, they are essentially doing digital LEGO building! In our Minecraft and Roblox Tracks, we teach kids how to use this exact block-by-block spatial logic to design massive, custom 3D environments. Asset Creation & Scaling: When you build a LEGO car, you have to make sure the wheels are proportionate to…
🗺️ Grid Coordinates & 2D Arrays: Drop-In Chess + iCode! ♟️💻
Event: Kids & Teens: Drop-In Chess Sessions When: Saturday, June 13, 2026, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Drop-in!) Where: Princeton Public Library – Story Room (65 Witherspoon St, Princeton, NJ) Event link: Princeton Library Events Who it’s for: Youth in Grades 2–6 (Beginners & Intermediate) Why we love it 💛 Every time you move a chess piece, you are navigating a mathematical grid! The Princeton Public Library is hosting a fantastic, drop-in summer chess session led by volunteers from Impact Chess. Elementary and middle schoolers will get to play against peers while learning the foundational strategies of the game. We absolutely love chess because players have to learn "algebraic notation" (like moving a knight to f3)—which is a masterclass in spatial reasoning and grid navigation! How this event aligns with iCode Princeton 🌈⚙️ Navigating a chessboard uses the exact same logic as programming 2D Arrays and X/Y Coordinates! Coordinate Mapping (X/Y Axes): In chess, the board is labeled with letters (columns) and numbers (rows). In computer science, this is exactly how a digital screen works! In our Scratch and STEAM Junior Tracks, we teach kids how to use X and Y coordinates to tell their digital characters exactly where to…
🦖 Biomechanics & Robotics: Dinosaur Discovery + iCode! 🤖💻
Event: Kids: Playtime Fun: Dinosaur Discovery When: Tuesday, May 26, 2026, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM (Drop-in!) Where: Princeton Public Library – Story Room (65 Witherspoon St, Princeton, NJ) Event link: Princeton Library Events Who it’s for: Kids ages 18 months and up (with an adult caregiver) Why we love it 💛 Playtime is the ultimate form of physical engineering! The Princeton Public Library is hosting a "Dinosaur Discovery" playtime session specifically designed for young children and their caregivers. Kids will get to explore, socialize, and play with dinosaur-themed toys in a relaxed, educational space. We absolutely love early-learner events like this because simply playing with different types of animal toys naturally introduces young kids to the concepts of balance, scale, and anatomy! How this event aligns with iCode Princeton 🌈⚙️ Figuring out how a dinosaur walked is the exact foundation of Robotics and Biomechanics! Biomechanics & Robotics: A T-Rex balances on two legs (bipedal), while a Triceratops walks on four (quadrupedal). In the engineering world, studying how animals move to build better machines is called "Biomechanics." In our Hardware and Robotics Tracks, we teach kids how to build physical robots, challenging them to use sensors, motors, and weight distribution…
🛠️ Hands-on Prototyping & The Maker Mindset: Saturday Drop-In Fun + iCode!
Event: Saturday Drop-In Fun When: Saturday, May 23, 2026, 11:00 AM – 2:30 PM (Drop-in!) Where: Somerset County Library System – Hillsborough Branch Event link: SCLSNJ Hillsborough Events Who it’s for: Kids in Grades K and up Why we love it 💛 Weekends are for building, experimenting, and letting creativity run wild! The SCLSNJ Hillsborough Branch is hosting a fantastic "Saturday Drop-In Fun" session where kids can stop by anytime to create a craft or assemble a simple project to take home. We absolutely love unstructured, drop-in maker events like this because they give children the freedom to work at their own pace, explore different materials, and practice their fine motor skills in a low-pressure environment. How this event aligns with iCode Princeton 🌈⚙️ Building a simple physical project is the exact foundation of Hardware Prototyping! The Maker Mindset: When kids figure out how to attach, fold, or glue materials together to build a final product, they are thinking like engineers. In our Robotics and Hardware Tracks, we take this "Maker Mindset" to the next level, teaching students how to physically assemble tech components—like wiring breadboards and connecting microcontrollers—to build functional machines! Rapid Prototyping: In a drop-in session, you get…
📈 Data Visualization & Computational Modeling: Astronomy Academy + iCode! 🔭💻
Event: Astronomy Academy: Intro to Black Holes When: Saturday, May 30, 2026, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Registration Required!) Where: Princeton Public Library – Myra & Van Williams Spark Lab (65 Witherspoon St, Princeton, NJ) Event link: Princeton Library Events Who it’s for: Kids in Grades 4–6 Why we love it 💛 You can't actually see a black hole with a telescope—you have to understand the math around it! The Princeton Public Library is hosting a fascinating "Astronomy Academy" session inside their Spark Lab. Led by a Princeton University astrophysics graduate student, elementary and middle schoolers will learn about stellar collapse, gravitational lensing, and the bending of light. We absolutely love this event because it uses hands-on demonstrations and visual animations to help kids comprehend phenomena that are completely invisible to the naked eye! How this event aligns with iCode Princeton 🌈⚙️ Visualizing a black hole relies on the exact same logic as Computational Data Modeling! Data Visualization: Since scientists can't directly photograph a black hole, they use massive amounts of data to render what it should look like. In our Python and Data Science Tracks, we teach older students how to take large, complex sets of raw data and…
📡 Data Encoding & Transmission: Spy School + iCode! 🕵️♂️💻
Event: Spy School: Morse Code When: Thursday, June 18, 2026, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM Where: Somerset County Library System – Hillsborough Branch (Program Room A) Event link: SCLSNJ Hillsborough Events Who it’s for: Kids in Grades K–4 Why we love it 💛 Long before smartphones and the internet, the ultimate way to send a long-distance message was through Morse code! The SCLSNJ Hillsborough Branch is hosting an awesome STEM-based "Spy School" where elementary students will learn how to translate this classic code and discover clever ways to hide secret messages in plain sight. We absolutely love code-breaking events because Morse code is actually one of the earliest forms of digital communication, relying entirely on short and long electrical pulses to send complex information across the world! How this event aligns with iCode Princeton 🌈⚙️ Translating a letter into a dot or a dash is the exact same concept as encoding data on a computer! Data Encoding (ASCII & Binary): A computer doesn't actually understand the letter "A"—it only understands numbers! Just like spies translate the alphabet into Morse code, we teach our students how computers encode text into Binary (1s and 0s) or ASCII codes so the hardware can…
🖨️ UI/UX Layout & Information Design: Princeton ZineFest + iCode! 📖💻
Event: Special Event: Princeton ZineFest 2026 When: Saturday, June 20, 2026, 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM (Drop-in!) Where: Princeton Public Library – Community Room (65 Witherspoon St, Princeton, NJ) Event link: Princeton Library Events Who it’s for: All Ages Why we love it 💛 Self-publishing is the ultimate form of DIY maker culture! The Princeton Public Library is hosting the 3rd Annual "Princeton ZineFest," a massive celebration featuring over 40 local zine-makers, comic artists, and creatives. In addition to browsing the marketplace, there will be a dedicated space for attendees of all ages to drop in and create their own handmade publications. We absolutely love ZineFest because making a zine requires organizing information, text, and images onto a physical page in a way that is engaging and easy to read! How this event aligns with iCode Princeton 🌈⚙️ Designing a physical zine is the exact foundation of Front-End Web Development! Front-End Layout (HTML/CSS): When you fold a piece of paper and decide where the title goes and where the images sit, you are doing layout design! In our Web Development Tracks, we teach kids how to use HTML and CSS to build these exact same layouts digitally, organizing web pages…
🛠️ Sandbox Engineering & The Maker Mindset: Open Makerspace + iCode! 💡💻
Event: Thursday Open Makerspace When: Every Thursday at 3:30 PM (Drop-in!) Where: Plainsboro Public Library (9 Van Doren, Plainsboro, NJ) Event link: Plainsboro Library Makerspace Who it’s for: Makers of All Ages! Why we love it 💛 Unstructured time is where true innovation happens! Every Thursday afternoon, the Plainsboro Public Library opens the doors to its incredible Makerspace for a drop-in open lab. Each session features a different theme and a massive variety of hands-on supplies for building, crafting, and experimenting. We absolutely love open labs because giving kids the freedom to build and experiment without a strict instruction manual encourages self-guided problem-solving and highly organic creativity. How this event aligns with iCode Princeton 🌈⚙️ A makerspace is just the physical version of an open-world digital sandbox! Sandbox Environments: In video game design, a "Sandbox" is an open world where players are given tools to build anything they want without restrictions. In our Minecraft and Roblox Tracks, we teach students how to harness this exact open-ended logic! They learn how to use code to manipulate their environment, setting their own rules and building entirely custom digital worlds. The Maker Mindset & Hardware Prototyping: Tinkering with physical craft supplies is the…
📐 Structural Engineering & 3D Modeling: Origami Father’s Day Craft + iCode! 📄💻
Event: Kids Craft - Father's Day Card (Origami) When: Saturday, June 13, 2026, 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM (Registration opens May 23!) Where: Somerset County Library System – Montgomery Branch (Storytime Room) Event link: SCLSNJ Montgomery Events Who it’s for: Kids & Tweens (Entering Grades K–6) Why we love it 💛 Origami isn't just an art form, it is a study in geometry and structural engineering! The SCLSNJ Montgomery Branch is hosting a fantastic craft session just in time for Father's Day. Kids and tweens will learn how to take a flat piece of paper and use precise folding techniques to craft a dimensional, origami paper card. We absolutely love origami events because they teach young makers how to follow complex sequences and understand how mathematical folds can turn a 2D surface into a 3D structure! How this event aligns with iCode Princeton 🌈⚙️ Folding paper into a 3D shape uses the exact same logic as digital 3D rendering! 3D Geometry & Polygons: In video game design, 3D characters aren't solid blocks, they are actually hollow shapes made by "folding" thousands of flat digital triangles (polygons) together! In our Digital Arts and Unreal Engine Tracks, we teach older students how…
📐 Grid Systems & Wireframing: Art Academy + iCode! 🎨💻
Event: Art Academy - Ledger Art When: Monday, June 15, 2026, 5:15 PM – 6:00 PM (Check-in begins 15 mins prior!) Where: Somerset County Library System – Montgomery Branch (Storytime Room) Event link: SCLSNJ Montgomery Events Who it’s for: Kids entering Grades 1–6 Why we love it 💛 Art is one of the best ways to learn how to organize information visually! The SCLSNJ Montgomery Branch is hosting an incredible "Art Academy" session focused on Ledger Art—a historic narrative drawing style developed by Plains Indigenous peoples that was uniquely drawn across the lined, gridded pages of accounting ledger books. Elementary students will learn how to use visual symbols to tell a story on paper. We absolutely love this event because drawing over a strict background grid challenges kids to think about spatial organization and layout! How this event aligns with iCode Princeton 🌈⚙️ Drawing on gridded ledger paper is the analog version of digital wireframing! Grid Systems & Layouts: Ledger paper is filled with horizontal and vertical lines. In our Web Development Tracks, we teach kids how to use this exact same concept—called a "Grid System"—to structure their websites. They learn how to use invisible lines to align text, images,…
