Coding Instruction

Online School Startup Camp K12 Makes Its Hatch Kids Metaverse, AR/VR Creation Platform Free

Supporting AR/VR Educator Resources, Curriculum for Coding Lessons Also Now Free, Hatch Kids Says

• By Kristal Kuykendall
• 05/18/22

Online school startup Camp K12 today announced it is making its Hatch Kids AR/VR and Metaverse creation platform for K–12 students free for use, along with supporting AR/VR curriculum models for educators and schools also at no cost.

Hatch Kids allows students to create 3D, augmented reality, virtual reality, and Metaverse experiences even with no previous coding experience, according to a news release. “Younger students and first-time coders can create using a visual, blocks-based programming environment similar to that of MIT Scratch, while older or more experienced students can create advanced 3D applications using JavaScript,” said Camp K12.

Students’ creations in Hatch Kids can be published instantly to any connected device using a QR code scan or a link, the company said.

Camp K12 initially created Hatch Kids for its own online courses but decided to launch the platform publicly for free after “witnessing strong demand from educators and students while working with early partners,” according to the news release. Hatch Kids is compatible with iPad and Chromebooks.

Since its launch six months ago, Hatch Kids has seen 1.1 million students logging in from 150 countries, with 75% of those users coming from North America, Camp K12 said.

CEO Anshul Bhagi noted that while most of the free coding platforms are still using 2D project creation, the 3D platforms such as Minecraft and Roblox are winning market share as well as students’ engagement.

“As technologies like AR and VR go mainstream, we need to upgrade the tools that kids learn on and that educators teach on for modern-day use cases and content formats,” Bhagi said. “We built Hatch as a kids’ coding platform for the age of the Metaverse. We want to give 100 million young kids their first AR/VR creation experience and the self-confidence to be builders in the inevitable Mixed Reality future rather than passive consumers of it.”

Learn more at Kids.HatchXR.com.