Pixicade lets children turn their drawings into real playable video games using a tablet or smartphone. After drawing a game level on paper, kids scan their design with the Pixicade app and instantly see their creation come to life as a game they can play and share.

This hands-on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) activity encourages creativity while introducing children to basic game design and coding concepts. As they test and improve their drawings, children naturally practise creative thinking, problem-solving, spatial reasoning, and design thinking, while developing persistence as they revise and improve their games.

Pixicade also supports learning connected to the Ontario Curriculum, helping students explore spatial reasoning in Mathematics, the engineering design process in Science and Technology, and visual storytelling through the Arts and Language. Children plan, create, test, and improve their ideas as they design characters, obstacles, and game environments.

Skills Developed

• Designing and creating simple video games

• Understanding cause and effect in game mechanics (introductory coding logic)

• Spatial reasoning and visual planning

• Creative problem-solving through testing and improving designs

• Engineering design thinking (plan, create, test, improve)

Ideal for children ages 6+ who enjoy drawing, building, and creating their own games.