15 Online Coding Programs for Middle School Students
- Stephen Turban
- Jun 13
- 8 min read
Middle school students interested in coding and programming may consider pursuing online coding programs. Such programs are designed to provide exposure to advanced concepts in computer science through hands-on activities and projects. Thus, you will develop practical skills and a portfolio of work.
These programs also provide the opportunity to network with instructors and peers in an online environment, which makes them inexpensive options. We have compiled a list of online coding programs that are rigorous, have practical components, and cater to beginner as well as advanced students.
Here are 15 online coding programs for middle school students:
The Lumiere Junior Explorer Program is designed for middle school students. Lasting 8 weeks, you’ll explore your academic interests and build a project you are passionate about while receiving one-on-one guidance from a mentor. The mentor will be a scholar from a top research university such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale, Duke, and LSE.
The program was founded by a Harvard & Oxford PhD who met as undergraduates at Harvard. Financial aid is available for students who qualify. This 100% virtual program is rigorous. You can find the application in the brochure!
Location: Virtual
Cost: $2,400. Need-based financial aid is available.
Application Deadline: Varies according to cohort
Program Dates: 8 weeks starting June 2 (Summer Cohort I) or July 14 (Summer Cohort II)
Eligibility: Middle school students
The AI Trailblazers program by Veritas AI is a virtual program for middle school students. In 25 hours of programming, you will learn the principles of AI and machine learning. You will be introduced to the basics of Python, data analysis, regression, image classification, neural networks, and AI ethics. Lectures and group sessions have a 5:1 student-to-mentor ratio, facilitating more personalized and focused learning. In previous years, students have built a machine-learning model to classify music genres and created a machine-learning algorithm to provide a custom list of educational resources based on selected specifications.
Application deadline: Rolling deadlines.
Eligibility: Students in grades 6-8
Program dates: 25 hours over 10 weeks (on weekends) during the spring cohort and 25 hours over 2 weeks (on weekdays) during the summer cohort.
Fee: $1,990, financial aid is available
The Berkeley Coding Academy encourages middle school students to develop skills in coding to pursue a career in data science and AI. You will learn the Python language to explore big data. As part of the program, you will visualize data, build machine learning models, and develop AI applications. Lecture and cohort time are integrated into the programming. During the cohort time, you will work on project development and conduct original research. The academy ends with a final project that you present as a slideshow and coding notebook. You can use this project and coding portfolio you built for science fairs, internships, and college applications, and elsewhere. A Data Science Scholar certificate is provided upon completing the program.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Starting from $2,699
Application Deadline: On a rolling basis
Program Dates: July 14 – August 1
Eligibility: Students aged 12 – 18 who have knowledge of Python at the level of writing functions and accessing libraries via dot-notation
Northwestern offers various online enrichment courses related to coding and programming. The program covers advanced topics and emphasizes creative problem-solving. Although the pacing is flexible and you can engage with the coursework according to your schedule, you will receive guidance and checkpoints in terms of weekly requirements. Two live online classes are delivered. You will also receive personalized feedback and an evaluation after the completion of the course.
Location: Virtual
Cost: $575. Need-based financial aid is available.
Application Deadline: On a rolling basis
Program Dates: October 16 – November 29 (fall), January 29 – March 12 (winter), April 23 – June 4 (spring), or June 11 – July 23
Eligibility: Students in grades 3 – 8 who can provide one of the following:
Achievement of a score of 90th percentile or higher on a nationally normed grade-level assessment in the required qualifying subject area (Verbal or Math) for the desired course; OR
Successful completion of a CTD course, with the same qualifying subject area within the past two years; OR
Report card or transcript and teacher recommendation (Admission Portfolio).
Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth offers an Arduino® Prototyping course. Arduino® is an open-source electronics platform that integrates hardware and software to create automated electronic systems. Some tasks you will perform include reading data from a sensor or activating lights based on motion and proximity. You will explore existing prototypes, learn to modify code, and adapt designs. By the end of the program, you will complete a final project wherein you will design, code, and build a device that addresses specific community needs.
Location: Virtual
Cost: $1,433 + $15 application fee. Financial aid is available.
Application Deadline: On a rolling basis
Program Dates: July 14 – August 1
Eligibility: Students in grades 7 – 10 with CTY-level math
This machine learning bootcamp is for students to explore university-level computer science concepts such as programming, AI/machine learning, and data visualization. These concepts are taught in the context of their application to medicine, digital humanities, economics, and linguistics. You will first learn about the mathematics that supports AI and other models, data preprocessing techniques, and how to train your own AI models. For the midterm and final projects, you will work in groups to complete machine learning research. At the end of the project, you will write an original research paper to publish online and present a research poster at the annual MehtA+ Machine Learning conference. Upon completing the bootcamp, you will receive a certificate.
Location: Virtual
Cost: $1,990. Partial need-based scholarships are available.
Application Deadline: June 11
Program Dates: June 23 – August 1
Eligibility: 8th – 12th grade students who are 13 – 18 years old
This is a coding-intensive camp for students from underrepresented backgrounds in STEM. You will learn the fundamentals of coding while becoming part of a community. You do not need prior coding experience to apply. You can learn 1 of 4 topics based on availability, namely, web development, mobile app, machine learning, and data science.
Web development looks at building websites using 3 programming languages: JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. The mobile app camp teaches you to use Xcode to create fully-functioning iOS-capable mobile apps. Machine learning involves discovering the fundamentals of AI, including algorithms, data sets, and natural language processing, to train a chatbot using Python. In data science, you will examine and analyze data using SQL, Python, and data visualization tools. The camps are taught by 2 instructors who are licensed educators. In addition, the camp hosts inspirational women in technology as part of a speaker series.
Location: Virtual or in-person
Cost: None
Application Deadline: On a rolling basis
Program Dates: June 2 – 13, July 7 – 18, July 21 – August 1, or August 4 – 15
Eligibility: Young women and gender expansive teens aged 13 – 18
The Python camp aims to teach essential programming and computational thinking skills. In the course, you will build logic programs with Python, design an interactive arcade-style game, and import custom graphics using Python libraries. The course is structured with live classes, peer collaboration, and self-paced project development. You will receive a transcript outlining what you learned during the program. Learning Python is considered the gateway to a career in machine learning.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Starting at $399
Application Deadline: Open enrollment
Program Dates: Multiple week-long sessions in the summer
Eligibility: Students aged 10 – 12
The Pandas + Python combination offered by this course aims to provide a foundation for data science. Pandas is an open-source data analysis and manipulation tool. The course incorporates ChatGPT to help you debug and understand concepts better. You will also learn to clean, process, and analyze data. Because the course involves practical activities, you will get hands-on experience. By the end, you will complete a capstone project wherein you will apply all the concepts you have learned to your own dataset.
Location: Virtual
Cost: $262.80 for 6 sessions
Application Deadline: Open enrollment
Program Dates: Multiple sessions in June and July
Eligibility: Students in grades 5 – 12 who have completed Python for AI Part III or equivalent
Lavner Education’s week-long camps cover various topics. The App Development Camp involves live online sessions as well as collaboration. You will learn to plan, design, code, and publish your own app, whether it is a game, photo editor, GPS, to-do list, or something else. It is a beginner-level course teaching coding, logical thinking, and creativity. Throughout the course, you will complete mini projects, followed by 1 – 2 larger projects. By the end of the week, you will have completed at least 2 projects.
Location: Virtual
Cost: $399 + $79 registration fee
Application Deadline: Rolling
Program Dates: Multiple sessions (June 23 – 27, July 7 – 11, or August 25 – 29)
Eligibility: Students aged 8 – 12
Coding with Kids offers various online coding summer camps for middle school students. With live instruction and small groups, you will likely get individualized support. The camps have a progressive curriculum from beginner and intermediate to advanced, based on your experience and familiarity with programming concepts. Some of the camps are related to machine learning, web development, mobile apps, 3D game development, and more. The camps teach project planning and design, along with debugging.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Ranges from $269 – $319
Application Deadline: Rolling basis based on availability
Program Dates: Multiple sessions in the summer
Eligibility: 5 – 18-year-olds interested in coding
As the name suggests, this program introduces middle school students to computer science concepts. It teaches you to build websites, apps, animations, games, and physical computing systems. Through practical projects and activities, you will develop creative problem-solving skills. The modules are also flexible to meet your pacing requirements. The lesson plan also includes slides, videos, and assessments.
Location: Virtual
Cost: None
Application Deadline: Open enrollment
Program Dates: Year-long course
Eligibility: Students in grades 6 – 10
13. Codecademy
Codecademy has multiple free and paid options for students to explore and learn coding at their own pace. Although not designed like a typical instructor-led coding program, the modules cover the fundamental and advanced concepts. You can choose the course you are interested in and complete practical activities as you learn. Specifically curated skill and career path courses guide your learning in a structured manner. You can also earn a certificate upon completing the courses.
Location: Virtual
Cost: None
Application Deadline: Open enrollment
Program Dates: Self-paced
Eligibility: Anyone can enroll
This course delves into the real-world applications of AI through machine learning. In this camp, you will create an AI-powered web app using computer vision and train a machine learning model for image recognition and labeling. The course also includes data collection for model training and model integration into a web application via the CodeWizardsHQ platform. By the end of the camp, you will know how to execute actions, make decisions within a web application, and identify and address common challenges in AI model training. The web application you develop will be turned into a game, all equipped with objectives, a scoring system, and an expanded range of doodle categories.
Location: Virtual
Cost: $199
Application Deadline: On a rolling basis
Program Dates: Multiple sessions (May 31 – June 1, June 14 – 15, July 12 – 13, or August 2 – 3)
Eligibility: Students aged 11 – 13
This program is about the use of AI to develop interactive games and experiences. It combines AI with coding. You will build projects by constructing machine learning models that use image and text recognition within block-based coding software. Because you will work in pairs or teams for most of the program, you will develop teamwork and collaboration skills. The programming involves live instruction and smaller breakout sessions.
Location: Online
Cost: Starting at $179
Application Deadline: On a rolling basis
Program Dates: Multiple sessions
Eligibility: Students aged 6 – 14
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a PhD student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.
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