Introducing Flock XR - The free 3D coding and design tool for age 9-14

Flock XR is a new 3D coding and design tool for young people aged around 9-14. It has been designed as a bridge between creating in 2D tools such as Scratch and moving to professional 3D creation tools such as Unity, Unreal, Blender and many more industry specific tools. 

Flock XR is under active development with some features at a prototype stage, but there’s already so much you can do. 

✨Flock XR Key Info

• Ages: 9–14+ (fun for older beginners too!)

• Learn: 3D coding, design, animation, physics, creative thinking, spatial skills

• Devices: Laptop, Chromebook, tablets

• Free, no downloads, no logins, works offline

• Sign up to the mailing list for insider info

What can you make with Flock XR?

In Flock XR, young people can create interactive experiences, games, animations, stories, data visualizations and simulations. 

The XR is short for eXtended Reality. Flock XR projects can be viewed on a VR headset, you can use the camera on a device to create Augmented Reality apps. You can also create objects to export for 3D printing and control Flock XR projects with a BBC micro:bit mini computer so you can interact with the physical world. 

Flock XR has drag-and-drop coding blocks (like Scratch, Code.org, MakeCode and many more tools that use the Blockly library.). You can program interactive behavior such as clicking on an object to make it hide, you can program animated scenes, and you can create full games.

Flock XR has a library of customizable 3D characters and objects. You change the colours and materials. There’s a physics engine so you can make objects react to other objects. 

There are visual tools ‘gizmos’ that allow you to place and modify objects in a scene. These automatically create and synchronise with code blocks. This means that users can choose how they prefer to work. No, it’s not cheating! The professional 3D development tools also have visual editors for scene creation. 

There are helpful code snippets to show you how to make a character walk around using keyboard controls, and for quickly creating a new scene with a sky and ground.  

What can you make with Flock XR? You can design a 3D scene, program an animation, or create a full interactive experience or game. 

Why 3D skills matter now

The web is moving to 3D experiences. Companies are developing smart glasses that change how we interact with technology. Apple is working on spatial computing. Many industries are using technology such as the Unreal engine which was originally developed for games but now enables fashion, architecture, engineering, film production and much more. VR headsets are being used to train surgeons, mechanics, pilots and customer service representatives. Niantic (who created Pokémon GO) are now working on applying geospatial technology in industry. NVIDIA Omniverse is a platform that lets people work together in real time to build realistic 3D worlds, the same kind used in films, games, engineering and future technologies. 

Spatial skills are also an important predictor of success in STEM subjects so providing engaging opportunities to develop those skills is another reason for young people to create in 3D. 

Many young people spend time in 3D games and worlds. 3D is familiar to them so it provides an engaging and relevant setting for them to learn tech skills that can then be applied to any tech-related career. 

What devices does Flock XR run on?

Flock XR runs in a web browser on desktop, laptop and Chromebook computers. It also runs on mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. You can view Flock XR projects on a VR headset in full immersive mode - it’s very cool to see the world you made in full-size 3D!

Inclusion-first design

Flock XR has been designed based on research and experience in technology education. It uses principles from universal design for learning. Flock XR has been designed to appeal to girls, and boys love it too. Accessibility features are a focus, to make sure that Flock XR can be used by a very wide audience. 

Flock XR has been codesigned with young people in around 20 classrooms and workshops. Their ideas have shaped Flock XR. 

How can I get started with Flock XR?

You can try the Flock XR pilot at flockxr.com, just click on ‘Create with Flock XR’. 

There is also a resources page with free resources that you can follow to get started. There are also lots of demo projects included in the app that you can remix. 

For home educators, there’s a paid structured curriculum pack available on Teachers Pay Teachers. 

How can I stay up to date with Flock XR?

Sign up to the mailing list to get insider info and be among the first to know when the new version is released. 

Who created Flock XR?

Flock XR was created by Flip Computing, an inclusion-first technology education company. Dr Tracy Gardner (also a founder of Tech Age Kids) is the main developer of the Flock XR app. She is an experienced technologist and educator. (Yes this explains why I haven’t had time to post on Tech Age Kids recently!)

Flock XR is free

Flock XR is free to make sure that young people can access it. Flock XR has been developed by Flip Computing with recent funding from NLnet Foundation and UK Games Fund. If you think Flock XR is valuable then you can support continued development of the project through GitHub sponsors. 

✨Flock XR Key Info

• Ages: 9–14+ (fun for older beginners too!)

• Learn: 3D coding, design, animation, physics, creative thinking, spatial skills

• Devices: Laptop, Chromebook, tablets

• Free, no downloads, no logins, works offline

• Sign up to the mailing list for insider info