Around 1,800 groep 8 pupils from The Hague, Rijswijk and Leidschendam-Voorburg will spend a day working with technology on Thursday 8 and Friday 9 October.
TechFestival Haaglanden is held at The Hague Tech, where the children can fly drones, operate a crane and work with care robots.
The programme is built around doing things rather than watching.
Pupils can lay a stretch of pavement, use drones in public space and steer a crane through virtual reality.
They also get to meet people from a range of technical trades and see the training that leads to them.
Seven worlds of technology
The activities are divided into seven “worlds of technology”, among them Mens & Gezondheid, Energie & Veiligheid and Digitaal, Media & Entertainment.
New this year is a presence from secondary and higher education, with courses from mbo through to university level on hand to show what is possible after primary school.
Teachers are catered for as well.
They can join a practical session that introduces simple technology activities, the kind they can take straight back into their own classrooms once the festival is over.
Growth and organisers
The festival has grown this year.
More than 40 schools have signed up, against 25 last year, and the number of pupils taking part rises from about 1,500 to 1,800.
More than thirty companies and organisations are running activities for them.
TechFestival Haaglanden began as an initiative of the municipality of Leidschendam-Voorburg and the Corbulo College, and schools, businesses and councils from across the region now work on it together.
The opening takes place on Thursday 8 October.
Aldermen Mariëtte van Leeuwen (Hart voor Den Haag) of The Hague, Larissa Bentvelzen (Beter voor Rijswijk) of Rijswijk and Marcel Belt (D66) of Leidschendam-Voorburg will open the event together with three pupils.
