Coding classes for kids in La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle

La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle share a unique heritage: their watchmaking town planning is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Generations of engineers and craftspeople made precision their trade there, and programming continues that culture very naturally: a program is a sequence of exact instructions, like a watch movement. Yet families in the mountains know it well: activities for children tend to be concentrated down by the lake, and in winter the road over the Vue-des-Alpes is not always inviting.

Why the online format makes sense in the mountains

What matters when learning to code is regularity: a little every week, for months. A workshop in Neuchâtel easily adds an hour of travel to a one-hour activity, and winter complicates everything. Online, the child codes from home, and the time saved on the road becomes practice time.

The Coding Lab: coding all year round, even when it snows

The Coding Lab is our online space for 7 to 15-year-olds. Your child progresses alone, at their own pace, with Neo, our little robot who reads the instructions aloud. From age 7, they start with Smart Blocks, blocks to snap together to guide Neo through a village; around 10, they move on to real Python. Then come the workshops: programming a virtual robot that reads its sensors, drawing precise shapes with a turtle (something mechanics fans will enjoy), making a game, a website, discovering artificial intelligence.

Every step is checked automatically, with hints when the child gets stuck, and you follow everything in a dashboard. The Lab costs CHF 49 per month (12-month commitment) or CHF 490 per year; it is included in our Solo and Duo classes. A mission can be played without an account right on the page.

With a teacher, without leaving home

Our online Solo classes (from CHF 249/month) or Duo classes (from CHF 169/month per child) offer one session a week with a teacher who sees the child's screen and guides them, at a time you choose between 9 am and 7 pm. The 30-minute trial class is free. See also our guide for Neuchâtel and the lakeside.

During the holidays

An online coding camp during the school holidays lets children build a first game in a week. The Coding Lab then takes over, so the momentum does not stop when school starts again.

Frequently asked questions in the mountains

Do we need a fast internet connection? An ordinary connection is enough: the Lab runs in the browser, and the Python code runs directly on the child's computer.

My child prefers maths to games: is it for them? Yes. The Lab's Maths & code path has children program fractions, percentages, Pythagoras or probabilities; see maths and programming, why combine them.

From what age? From 7 with Smart Blocks, Python around 10.