Smilegate Future Lab Hosts Teacher-Designed Family Camp

Smilegate Future Lab announced on the 2nd that it held the "2026 FutureBee Challenge with Family," featuring around 50 educator parents and their elementary school children.

Marking its sixth iteration this year, the FutureBee Challenge is a project that has drawn over 40,000 participants from schools and educational institutions nationwide over the past five years. Educators, children, and youth use digital technology under the theme of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to find solutions to social issues. When Future Lab provides questions and tools, field educators structure activities to fit the characteristics of their regions and students.

This family camp originated from a proposal by teachers at Hyangsan Elementary School who have consistently participated in the FutureBee Challenge. The goal was to share at home with their children what had been experienced at school. Smilegate Future Lab organized the one-day camp in collaboration with the Gyeonggi Digital Literacy Education Research Association, the Gimpo AI & Robot Education Research Association, and the Gimpo Digital-Based Class Innovation Research Association.

Elementary student participants learned digital creation tools according to their grade level, then developed and presented solutions to resolve everyday inconveniences. Grades 1 to 3 used OctoStudio, a mobile coding app developed by the MIT Media Lab, while Grades 4 to 6 utilized micro:bit, an Arm-based educational board.

Parents participated alongside their children in creative activities while also observing class management techniques from an educator's perspective. The event also doubled as teacher training, as educators shared Future Lab's creative environment design know-how and organized ways to apply it in their own classrooms.

Hyangsan Elementary School teacher Choi Sang-hyun, who planned the camp, said, "I organized this camp thinking it would be wonderful to experience the creative environment of the FutureBee Challenge—which we usually run in classrooms—together with our own children." He added, "Teachers often find it difficult to make time for their children because of their classroom duties, so it was very satisfying to fulfill both training and quality family time."

Oh Sook-hyun, head of Smilegate Future Lab, stated, "This is an example of field-driven expansion of creative education, where field educators voluntarily proposed and executed ideas for the FutureBee Challenge." She added, "I hope teachers gained creative and digital education experiences that can be readily applied in their classrooms."

Originally written in Korean, this article was translated with AI assistance and edited by a native English-speaking editor. Every translation is reviewed by our editorial team before publication. [Read Original]

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Byungho "Haao" Kim

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