Hour of Code 2022: New activities and new songs in Dance Party

NASA, Beyoncé, and Harry Styles join the fun, plus other ways to explore, play, and create during CSEdWeek.

5 min readNov 9, 2022

We hope you’re as excited as we are about Hour of Code 2022! We have big plans, including a partnership with NASA, new activities, and new artists participating in Dance Party! As you make YOUR plans, don’t forget to register your Hour of Code event at hourofcode.com.

What’s new at Code.org?

This year, we’re adding two new themes to our Hello World activity to embody the spirit of “Explore, play, create:” Soccer and space!

Create a winning scene straight out of the World Cup or code something out-of-this-world using images from the Webb Space Telescope, courtesy of our partnership with NASA. You can even make a mashup: soccer in space, anyone?

We’re also updating our popular Dance Party activity with some awesome songs from iconic artists:

“Break My Soul” by Beyoncé
“As It Was” by Harry Styles
“2 Be Loved” by Lizzo
“We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Disney’s Encanto
“Sunflower” by Post Malone and Swae Lee
“Sunroof” by Nicky Youre and dazy
“Danza Kuduro” by Don Omar
“Tacones Rojos” by Sebastian Yatra

Use code to choreograph an unforgettable dance party to your favorite song — and be sure to post a video of you dancing along with #hourofcode! You could be featured on our TikTok channel!

Don’t miss these activities

The results are in from the Hour of Code teacher review board! Here are some activities you won’t want to miss …

NASA’s Space Jam: Create a solar system that really rocks! Learn about music, astronomy, and coding in this self-guided activity (no coding experience required). Program planets to make music, creating your own musical solar system, complete with spacey melodies. Appropriate for grades 2 and up.

Code a 3D Space Invaders Game: Code the classic Space Invaders game in 3D, while learning about the basics of game development and motion in 3D space, and learn fundamental programming concepts like loops, conditionals, variables, and keyboard events! This Hatch Kids activity is appropriate for grades 2 and up.

Minecraft Escape Estate: Solve puzzles to escape from Dr. Breakowski’s mysterious mansion in the new “Minecraft Hour of Code: Escape Estate” from Microsoft. Use coding and computational thinking to unlock secrets, open trap doors, and reveal hidden clues. Code your way out by dawn and earn a million emeralds! Appropriate for grades 2 and up.

Maps: In this universe, maps of different types serve as a backdrop for fun challenges with autonomous vehicles that obey your programs. To win, you will have to interpret each map and program not only the movements, but adapt to the unexpected! Have a good trip! This Mindmakers activity is appropriate for grades 9 and up.

Featured unplugged activity

Draw a Code: Explore codes from yesterday and today in this activity from Crayola Education. Ancient people drew symbols on cave walls to tell stories. Ancient Egyptians carved hieroglyphs, a language of visual symbols representing people, objects, and actions, into stone. Create add-on stories with visual codes. Appropriate for grades 2–5.

Featured lesson plans

NASA: Lunar Coding Challenge: Use Code.org’s App Lab to learn about the Artemis 1 mission and the NASA App Development Challenge (ADC). Appropriate for grades 6–8.

Alexa in Space: Explore artificial intelligence (AI) concepts by creating Alexa skills and explore the question of how voice AI can help inexperienced space travelers, like tourists, complete everyday tasks in a microgravity environment. Appropriate for grades 9 and up.

Supplemental opportunities like virtual field trips and more

Show your students the exciting ways that CS is used in the real world with virtual field trips and other events from partners like Amazon, NASA, US Space Force, and others!

Have you entered to win $10K?

Let’s not forget about the biggest news of all: Your school could win $10,000 to expand computer science! Enter to win by telling us your school’s plan to add a new computer science course at code.org/prize. Two schools in each U.S. state, plus the District of Columbia, will win $10,000. That’s more than $1 million in awards at stake! Don’t miss out!

We are so grateful to the activity providers who continue to make Hour of Code fun and exciting each year! We hope that this growing list of fun options makes it easier than ever to bring an Hour of Code to students of all ages. However you choose to participate, we can’t thank you enough for your effort and support!

— The Code.org team

Code.org is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to every student having the opportunity to learn computer science as part of their core K-12 education. We are publicly funded by people like you. If you would like to join our commitment to computer science education by making a donation today, please click here. For questions, please contact Development at giving@code.org or (206) 593–5521. Thank you.