15 Summer Coding Camp for Middle School Students
- Stephen Turban
- Aug 31, 2025
- 8 min read
Updated: Oct 14, 2025
If you're in middle school and thinking about learning how to code, summer coding camps are one of the simplest and practical ways to try it out. These camps are short programs that give you hands-on exposure to basic tools like Python, Scratch, JavaScript, or simple game engines.
Joining a coding camp early helps you get used to how programming actually works. You’ll learn how to write, test, and fix code, and how to think through logic problems and also build practical skills like typing, working with online platforms, and basic digital organization. If the camp includes a project or group activity, you’ll also get a taste of what it's like to work in a tech setting or build something from scratch.
How are camps different from other programs in middle school?
Summer coding camps are usually much shorter and more focused than other programs. A regular academic program might follow a school-year schedule, cover a wide set of topics, or be tied to a university. Camps, on the other hand, are built around a single skill or topic like game design, web development, or robotics and are run by independent coding platforms, nonprofits, or local tech groups.
Because camps are shorter, they’re easier to finish during your summer break, you don’t have to commit to a full semester or worry about grades. Camps also give you more room to experiment, ask questions, or try tools without needing to follow a school-like structure. For students who are just starting to explore coding, this makes camps a good first step.
With that, here are 15 summer coding camps open to middle school students! (Note: Some listings use "program" in the name, but they follow a camp-style format built for middle school students.)
15 Summer Coding Camp for Middle School Students
Location: Virtual
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; 1:1 student-to-PhD-mentor ratio
Dates: 8-week program
Application Deadline: Varies by the cohort
Eligibility: Students currently in grades 6–8
The Junior Explorer Program by Lumiere Education is an 8-week, one-on-one research mentorship for middle school students in grades 6–8. You’ll work with a PhD mentor from a top university like Harvard, MIT, or Stanford to explore topics in STEM, including biology, medicine, and public health. The first four weeks focus on foundational concepts in your chosen track, followed by a deep dive into one topic. In the final two weeks, you’ll build a research project with close guidance from your mentor. You can apply here.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies
Application Deadline: Varies by the cohort. Sessions offered throughout the year
Program Dates: Weekend Track: 25 hours over 10 weekends; Summer Track: 25 hours over 2 weeks (weekdays)
Eligibility: Students in grades 6 - 8; no coding or technical background required
AI Trailblazers by Veritas AI introduces middle school students like you to coding and artificial intelligence through weekend sessions led by mentors from top universities. You’ll start by learning Python, then explore how AI is used in fields like healthcare, transportation, and finance. The curriculum covers key concepts like regression, classification, image recognition, and neural networks, along with ethical questions about how AI affects society. You’ll work in a small group to build a final project, with support from your mentor every step of the way. You can apply here.
Location: Virtual, live sessions via Zoom
Cost: From $2,699
Dates: July 14 - August 1
Application Deadline: April 15
Eligibility: Students in grades 6–9 for the beginner cohort and grades 10–12 for advanced
The AI Journey by Berkeley Coding Academy is a three-week online summer coding camp for middle and high school students. You’ll learn how Python powers real-world AI systems and build projects using deep learning models like CNNs, RNNs, LLMs, and GANs. Projects include image classification, text generation, and deep fake detection. The program includes daily lectures, cohort sessions, and one-on-one guidance. You’ll also get lifetime access to over 100 HD videos, Colab notebooks, and slide decks
Location: UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Cost: $1,465
Dates: Session I: 23 June - 27 June | Session II: 7 July - 11 July
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: Rising 7th - 9th graders
Coding and Engineering Nano-Satellites for Space Exploration is a one-week summer program hosted by the Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley. You’ll use block-based coding to program a model satellite, solve real engineering challenges, and apply the design thinking process to build your own space exploration project. If you already know Python or JavaScript, you can take on more advanced coding challenges. You’ll also take part in lab tours, STEM workshops, and campus activities.
Location: Andries Hudde Junior High School, Midwood, Brooklyn and STAR Early College School, East Flatbush, Brooklyn
Cost: Free
Dates: July 7 - August 1
Application Deadline: May 15
Eligibility: Rising 7th - 8th graders who live in New York City
Science of Smart Cities (SoSC) is a free, 4-week summer program hosted by NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering for middle school students in New York City. You’ll explore how engineering, coding, and electronics are used to design sustainable cities. Topics include renewable energy, transportation systems, urban planning, microcontrollers, and circuits. You’ll work in teams to build your own smart city model using hands-on tools and present your final project at a public showcase. Along the way, you’ll learn from NYU engineering students and take part in lab tours and field trips.
Location: Andries Hudde Junior High School, Midwood, Brooklyn
Cost: Free
Dates: July 7 - August 1
Application Deadline: May 15
Eligibility: Rising 7th and 8th graders who live in New York City
SONYC (Sounds of New York City) is a free 3-week summer program at NYU Tandon for middle school students in New York City. You’ll use electronics and code to build sensors that measure noise pollution. You’ll learn how to collect and analyze sound data using real tools and programming and focus on coding, circuits, and data science. You’ll work on a final project and present your findings at a public showcase.
Location: Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Cost: Varies by camp, typically between $60 and $320.
Dates: June - August
Application Deadline: Varies depending on the selected camp
Eligibility: 6th - 8th graders
Oregon State University’s Middle School Summer Camps offer hands-on coding experiences for students in grades 6 to 8. You’ll learn to build robots, create games, and program devices using real tools and code. All camps take place on the OSU campus and include project-based learning.
In the Making with Microcontrollers camp, you’ll use micro:bit and MakeCode to build interactive devices and code using blocks or JavaScript. In the Making Arcade Games camp, you’ll design and code your own arcade-style games, including platformers and top-down games. In the ActivityBots camp, you’ll build and program a robot that can move and respond to its surroundings using sensors and a controller.
Location: Hybrid (online competition-based format)
Cost: Free to participate
Dates: Typically a 5-week summer program
Application Deadline: May 15
Eligibility: Middle School Students
Zero Robotics is a free five-week summer coding camp for middle school students, created by MIT in partnership with NASA. You’ll learn to write code that controls NASA’s Astrobee satellites aboard the International Space Station. The camp takes place in local schools or community centers, with flexible in-person or virtual formats. You’ll work in teams to build and test your code through simulations. Finalists have their programs run by astronauts in space during a live broadcast. The program uses a web-based coding platform, so no software downloads are needed.
Location: Extended Studies University City Center, San Diego
Cost: $275
Dates: Typically held in July
Application Deadline: Not Mentioned
Eligibility: Grades 6 - 8
Hosted at UC San Diego, Sally Ride Science Academy Program - Raspberry Pi introduces you to the basics of physical computing using the Raspberry Pi, a compact, powerful computer used for creative tech projects. During this course, you’ll learn how to set up a Raspberry Pi and program it to control sensors, lights, and displays. You'll also explore Python programming while building interactive circuits. Past student projects include designing games, developing weather stations, and creating home automation tools.
10. MathPath
Location: Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA.
Cost: $6,300
Dates: June 29 - July 27
Application Deadline: March 31
Eligibility: Middle School Students
MathPath is a four-week residential summer camp for middle school students aged 11 to 14 who demonstrate a strong interest and ability in mathematics. The program is held on a college campus and includes daily classes, lectures, and problem-solving sessions led by university faculty and advanced math students. You’ll study topics like number theory, combinatorics, logic, and proof-based reasoning. While MathPath is not a coding camp, it builds skills in algorithmic thinking and mathematical logic that are essential for computer science.
Location: Virtual
Cost: $262.80
Dates: 6 weeks, 1 session per week
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: Grades 5 - 12
Data Science with Python, Pandas, and ChatGPT is a live 6-week coding course designed for middle school students with no prior experience. You’ll learn the basics of Python programming and how to use the Pandas library to clean, analyze, and visualize real-world datasets. The course includes guided lessons on using ChatGPT to write, debug, and optimize your code. You’ll work in small groups of 2 to 3 students and complete a final capstone project where you analyze your own dataset and present your findings.
Location: Yale University, New Haven, CT
Cost: Not mentioned
Dates: July 6 - July 25
Application Deadline: February 28
Eligibility: 6th - 8th graders
Applied Data Science with Python is a two-week summer coding camp for middle and high school students, hosted on Yale’s campus and run by Summer Discovery. You’ll learn Python programming and use tools like Pandas and Matplotlib to clean, analyze, and visualize real-world datasets. The course covers data wrangling, exploratory data analysis, and basic statistics. You’ll work on a final project and present your findings at the end of the camp.
Location: ASU campus, Tempe, AZ (in-person)
Cost: $20
Dates: May 17
Application Deadline: Not mentioned
Eligibility: Middle School Students
Desert CodeSprouts Workshop is a one-day computer science camp for middle school students hosted by Arizona State University. You’ll rotate through activity stations focused on coding, machine learning, cybersecurity, and user interface design. You’ll build small projects using platforms like Scratch and Python while learning from ASU faculty and student volunteers. The workshop takes place on ASU’s Tempe campus and includes hands-on activities in real university labs.
Location: Live virtual classes
Cost: $ 199 - $ 447, varies basis the program chosen
Dates: Typically June - August, depending on the program
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: Ages 11 - 13
CodeWizardsHQ offers online coding camps for middle school students that focus on game development using platforms like Minecraft, Roblox, Fortnite, and Python. Camps run for 2 to 3 days with about 2 hours of live instruction each day. You’ll learn coding concepts like logic, loops, and event handling while building fully playable games. Each camp is led by expert instructors in small groups and is designed for beginners.
15. Kode With Klossy
Location: Multiple locations
Cost: Free
Dates: Typically between June - August, 2 - week sessions
Application Deadline: Varies by location
Eligibility: Girls and gender expansive teens aged 13 -18 years
Kode With Klossy is a free two-week summer coding camp for girls and gender expansive teens ages 13 to 18. Camps are held in person across cities like New York, San Francisco, and Chicago, and also offered online. You’ll learn to code through one of four tracks: web development, mobile app development, machine learning, or data science. In web development, you’ll use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build websites. In mobile apps, you’ll use Swift and Xcode to create iOS apps. In machine learning, you’ll train models and build tools using Python. In data science, you’ll analyze datasets using SQL and Python to create visualizations.
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. 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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