Kidizens Classes Start this Friday!

It’s a Tuesday afternoon in Belmont, and while many elementary school students are just beginning to unwind from a long school day, a group of ten children, ranging in age from six to nine, are sitting down to a city council meeting.

The issue at hand? A house in their city has been abandoned by the owner and has recently been revealed to be of historical value. Some residents are pushing to go ahead with previous proposal to convert the building into a homeless shelter, while others now maintain that the house should be preserved as an historic site. Children stand in front of the group to present their respective arguments. Finally, the issue is brought to an anonymous vote. How very timely, as at the real City Hall around the corner in Belmont, the City Council of Belmont is getting ready to take its final vote to decide the fate of the historical “Belmont Manor House.”

This exercise in critical thinking, problem solving and public speaking is all part of the amazing experience at Kidizens, where groups of children spend anywhere from a semester to a year building systemically functioning cities entirely out of Legos. The goal of the program is simple: Inspire students to develop the real-life skills they need to become good citizens and future leaders of tomorrow.

In the program, students develop cities from the grounds up and follow a detailed curriculum, where “kid citizens” take on roles such as mayor, sheriff, city planner, and ambassador. They work cooperatively to determine the kind of city governance that is required and they solve problems relating to the city, its residents and frequently occurring natural disasters, while keeping the city budget in control. Once the city infrastructure is ready, they also develop, own and operate their own businesses. They discover the need for cities to provide for public safety, write laws, and pass legislation that takes into account and balances the often divergent wishes of other kidizens. In this fun and highly interactive, social environment, they learn about social studies, civics, history, economics, money management, government, architecture, the environment, problem solving, writing, public speaking and much more.

Kidizens is a guided discovery program. There is a teacher / facilitator for every city and its group of kids, going through the lessons and often providing historical and local perspectives to the issues at hand, but the children make all the rules, vote on proposals and take all decisions through a group participatory process. Kidizens uses Legos, but it’s really about the interactive social play. If your kid like Legos, they will have fun. If your kid is more into Playmobil, they will love Kidizens! If your kid is a thinker and a problem solver, then they won’t be able to get enough of it.

Wikipedia says that “Civics is the study of the rights and duties of citizenship. In other words, it is the study of government with attention to the role of citizens as opposed to external factors in the operation and oversight of government. Civics refers to educating the citizens about the concepts of right and justice and ethics in public life”.

Kidizens seeks to do this in a fun, creative and age appropriate way that lets the children explore possibilities for themselves, and come to their own conclusions and solutions, without any preconcieved notion of what “the answer” or “best way” should be.

Most of all, it’s fun. The kids who do it enjoy it, and can’t get enough of it. The children are playing together, and at the same time learning important life lessons.

Example Newsboard covering daily events in the city:

In Sunbeam City, Aden is hard at work cultivating his own organic garden. With natural irrigation from a nearby river, the garden is producing such tasty treats as apples, pumpkins, and tomatoes. Farmer Aden is even keeping beehives, and expects his first honey harvest shortly! His prized produce caught the attention of Sunbeam City officials, who have asked him to be an official supplier at Sunbeam City sponsored events (such as the upcoming citywide Fall Festival).

Kidizens Fall program is a thirteen-week session where kids build, manage and govern an entire LEGO city, while learning about important civic and economic concepts, in a fun, social and highly engaging learning environment. In addition, fun engineering and robotics concepts are intertwined with the program to bring even more life to these LEGO cities.The kids role-play as city council members, attend town hall meetings and must use analytical thinking, cooperative skills and effective communications to take decisions and provide infrastructure and basic services for their residents while managing a limited city budget and dealing with crises.

To sign up, please visit out website at www.thekidizens.com or email with questions, to Info@kidzzinc.com