We have the games they love. Now watch them make their own.
LAZRdojo is a creative technology afterschool program in Winston-Salem for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. Your kid already spends hours inside games and digital worlds. We treat that as the starting curriculum — not the thing to pull them away from.
They will not notice
they are doing homework.
Game-making is not a break from school. The skills underneath it are the same ones on the report card — they just arrive attached to something your kid actually wants to finish. For high schoolers, the same work turns into a portfolio they can put in front of a college or an employer.
Design first. Then build.
This is the part that makes us different from a coding franchise. Students do not start at a keyboard. They start at a sketchbook, and they do not touch production hardware until they know what they are making and why.
Play with a question
Every session opens with shared play — console or VR — but with a purposeful design question attached. Why does this level feel fair? What makes this weapon satisfying?
Capture it on paper
Sketchbooks come out. Students draw the mechanic, map the level, write the design document. This is where the real thinking happens and where the school skills live.
Build the thing
Now the software. Scratch, MakeCode, Roblox Studio, Blender, Unity, Unreal — matched to age and readiness, working from the page they just filled.
One ladder, four rungs.
Each band maps directly onto the next, so nothing gets relearned. A student who starts at seven walks a continuous path to a portfolio at seventeen.
Blocks, and the first thing they made themselves
Younger students work in visual blocks, which removes typing and syntax as barriers without dumbing down the logic. Loops, conditionals, and variables are all here — they just look like puzzle pieces. The goal for this band is simple and non-negotiable: finish something and watch someone else play it.
- Scratch — storytelling, animation, first games
- MakeCode Arcade — real game loops in blocks
- Sketchbook design pages
- Runs on modest hardware
- See what we play →
The day the blocks turn into code
MakeCode has a toggle that shows the same program as blocks or as JavaScript. Watching their own project become text is the moment coding stops being a separate subject. This band also starts modding and building in Roblox Studio — a world most of them already live in.
- MakeCode — blocks ↔ JavaScript toggle
- Roblox Studio — building and scripting
- Modding existing games
- First written design documents
Professional tools, no training wheels
Middle schoolers move into Unity with C# and start modeling in Blender. These are the same tools shipping commercial games. The work gets harder, the failures get more interesting, and students begin keeping a body of work rather than a pile of one-offs.
- Unity + C# — text-based game development
- Blender — 3D modeling and asset creation
- Version control and iteration
- Structured playtesting and critique
Work you can show a college or an employer
High school is where this stops being an afterschool activity and starts being a body of evidence. Students take a project from concept through ship, document it properly, and leave with something on a portfolio site. The industries they are aiming at hire on demonstrated work, not transcripts. Our five premium bootcamp tracks each end in a real public showcase.
- Game Design Studio — Unity, Unreal, playable prototype
- 3D Modeling + VR — Gravity Sketch, Blender, Sketchfab
- Digital Art + Editing — After Effects, DaVinci
- Artists + AI Studio — human craft, AI workflow
- Streaming + Creator — OBS, on-camera, live premiere
The bus can bring
them here.
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools lets families request a different afternoon stop from their morning one. If your child’s route already serves our area, they can ride the bus straight to LAZRdojo instead of home. We have the forms and we will help you fill them out.
The alternate stop generally has to be on an existing route, and districts usually require it to fall within your child’s attendance zone. Tell us your child’s school and we will check it with you before you enroll — including telling you no if the answer is no.
Routing changes typically take one to two weeks. If you enroll for our August 10 start, plan on driving pickup for the first couple of weeks while the district processes the form — then switch to the bus once it is confirmed. Staff meet every bus that arrives.
Most families pay
for this pre-tax.
For 2026 the Dependent Care FSA limit rose to $7,500 — the first increase since 1986 — and before- and after-school care is a qualifying expense for children under 13. Depending on your bracket, that is typically 20–35% off the real cost.
What works
- ✓Pay by ordinary card, then request reimbursement. This is the route we recommend, and it works from your very first session.
- ✓Federal Child and Dependent Care Credit on IRS Form 2441, if you have no FSA.
- ✓Employer dependent care benefits and stipends. Worth one email to your HR — some have no age cap.
What to know first
- !An FSA card swiped in September usually declines. Dependent care balances build up paycheck by paycheck, unlike health FSAs. That is a quirk of the account, not of us — and we can switch you to the card later in the term.
- !Students 13 and older fall outside the IRS age limit. We serve through 18; ask us about term rates for older students.
- ×We cannot accept NC DSS childcare vouchers. That program requires a rated license of three stars or higher, and we operate as a license-exempt specialized instruction program.
We hold scholarship seats in every cohort. If cost is the only thing standing between your kid and this program, tell us — it takes about three minutes and commits you to nothing. Apply for a scholarship →
A completed IRS Form W-10 with our EIN, itemized receipts listing the dates and hours of care, and year-end statements on request at no charge — everything your benefits administrator will ask for.
Mon Aug 10
280 Charlois Blvd, Suite 202 · Winston-Salem, NC 27103
We run from the first day of school, and enrollment is rolling — you can start any week. Call us and we will walk you through pricing, session hours, and whether your child’s bus can reach us.
- Start now. Call or email and we will enroll your child this week. Paperwork gets done on their first day.
- Or come see it first — free open house, Saturday August 29, 10AM–1PM. Try the stations, meet students already enrolled, sketch a design page and take it home.
- Bring their student ID number either way, so we can check bus routing with you.
- Cost in the way? Apply for a scholarship seat — three minutes, no documents required.
Straight answers.
My kid just wants to play games. Is this really different?
Yes, and the difference shows up in the first hour. Play here always comes with a design question attached, and it is followed by a sketchbook, not more play. Students spend most of a session making something. Parents who expect an arcade with supervision are usually surprised by how much writing and drawing happens.
Does my child need to know how to code?
No. Most students arrive having never written a line. The youngest band works entirely in visual blocks, and the jump to text-based code happens naturally around ages nine to eleven, using a tool that shows both views of the same program side by side.
Is this childcare or is it a class?
Practically, it is both — students are supervised here after school while you work, and they are learning the whole time. Legally, we operate as a license-exempt specialized instruction program under North Carolina law, which means sessions run under four hours per day and we are not a licensed childcare facility. That distinction matters for DSS vouchers, which we cannot accept, but it does not affect Dependent Care FSA eligibility.
What if my child’s bus route does not come to you?
Then bus drop-off is not an option and we will tell you that before you enroll rather than after. Plenty of families drive pickup. Tell us your child’s school and we will check the route with you.
My child is in high school. Is this too young for them?
No — the high school band is the most demanding one we run. Students work in Unity and Unreal on a single sustained project, document it properly, and leave with a portfolio and a capstone showcase. The framing shifts from “learning” to “shipping.”
Can we start right away, or do we have to wait for a session to begin?
Start any week. We open on August 10, the first day of school, and enrollment is rolling from there — tuition is charged per four-week session beginning whenever your child starts. If bus drop-off is part of your plan, expect to drive pickup for the first week or two while WS/FCS processes the routing form.
What does it cost?
Tuition is charged per four-week session, with a sibling rate and payment plans available. Memberships and packages are here. We will give you the exact figure at the open house or over the phone — and we would rather walk you through the FSA math at the same time, because it usually changes the number that matters.
What if we cannot afford it?
Then tell us. We hold scholarship seats in every cohort covering full or partial tuition, and we do not ask for tax returns or proof of anything — just enough context to make a fair call. The interest form takes about three minutes. If we cannot offer a seat this cohort we will say so directly and put you first in line for the next one.
Do you take my Dependent Care FSA card at checkout?
Sometimes, but we do not recommend leading with it. Dependent care balances accrue from your paycheck across the year, so early in the term there is often not enough in the account for a charge to clear. Pay by ordinary card, keep the itemized receipt we give you, and submit for reimbursement. Once your balance builds up, usually by late fall, switching to the card is easy.
Who is supervising my child?
Every student needs a signed waiver on file before their first session. Staff meet every arriving bus, students are supervised for the entire session, and we release students only to the people you list on your authorized pickup form, with photo ID. Emergency contact and medical information is collected before a student’s first session.