CC Fest (Creative Coding Festival) is a free, community-driven program founded in 2016 that treats coding as a form of creative and cultural expression. The CC Fest Coding Camp is a free five-week virtual professional development program for educators, teaching artists, and creative practitioners who want to integrate creative coding into their teaching and practice — using p5.js, the JavaScript library built for artists and beginners.
The camp runs twice a year (Spring and Fall) and brings together a global cohort of educators from K–12 schools, universities, afterschool programs, and community organizations. Sessions run Saturdays, 9–11 am PT / 12–2 pm ET. Everything is free, virtual, and recorded.
Apply for Spring 2026 (April 11 – May 16): ccfest.rocks/coding-camp
Past iterations:
Five interactive tools built for the Spring 2026 Coding Camp sessions. Each tool is designed to be embedded in a class session, run live alongside participants, or shared as a standalone resource.
| Tool | Session | Magic moment | Key concept |
|---|---|---|---|
| Color Explorer | 1 | Drag sat to 0 — any hue becomes gray | RGB vs HSB |
| Postcard Studio | 1 | Build scene → Copy p5.js → paste into editor | Shapes, color, code |
| lerp() Visualizer | 2 | 4 personality presets + distance bar | Easing, motion character |
| noise() vs random() | 3 | Terrain mode + step button | Smooth vs arbitrary |
| Data Mapper | 4 | All three views simultaneously | Data as design decision |
What it does: Side-by-side RGB and HSB color wheels that update live as you drag sliders. The HSB slider tracks are expressive and gradient-aware. Six mood presets (Dawn, Classroom, Forest, Evening, Urgent, Calm) load named color palettes instantly. A context-aware "Try this" prompt shifts based on what sliders are doing.
Why it matters for Session 1: Beginners always struggle with HSB. This tool makes the difference between color modes visceral and immediate — drag Saturation to 0 and watch the color become gray no matter what the Hue is. That's the Session 1 insight.
Magic moment: Clicking through the mood presets and asking: "Which one feels like morning? Which one feels anxious?"