Our First-Ever Virtual Bring Your Child to Work Day Was One to Remember

National Bring Your Child to Work Day (BYCTWD) gives children in the United States a glimpse into the working world and a chance see what their parents do for a living. The day encourages children to use their imaginations, explore their natural tendencies for observation and curiosity, and understand the various roles required to do a job or project.

Typically, BYCTWD is celebrated in the office, allowing kids to experience our office culture, see their parents’ workspaces, and enjoy activities as a group. But because of the current health crisis and the fact that many of our offices are closed, we held 2020’s BYCTWD virtually.

Our first virtual BYCTWD

The silver lining to a virtual event was the chance to have global participation, as well as involvement from our friends at Oracle CX! Nearly 1,000 people took part across 11 different sessions. Children from Ukraine, Ireland, India, Romania, Singapore, and the US joined this virtual day of fun. Sessions were held throughout the day to accommodate families across many different time zones. Our first session started as early as 4:30AM EST.

There were a number of sessions to capture the interests of kids of all ages. The day consisted of story times geared to different age ranges, live cooking sessions, drawing tutorials, STEM projects, and a coding class.

Ellie Silverman, of our Employee Experience team, threw on her chef hat and made the cooking session fun and easy for the kids to follow. Rocky Road—a type of candy bar made from melted chocolate, marshmallows, and nuts—was the dessert item on the menu and only took five minutes to make. (Find the list of ingredients and instructions here.) Of course, the kids jumped with joy to lick the spoons filled with chocolate fudge.

Kids age six and up threw on their technical caps and received a coding exercise with the platform Scratch, which is a block-based visual programming website developed by MIT that allows users to create projects using the block-like interface. The session included a complete walk-through, showing the kids what to do to get the outcomes they’re seeking.

Testing the children’s creative muscles, we provided step-by-step instructions to obtain finished, hand-drawn masterpieces. The kids enjoyed watching their blank canvases turn into fantastic Datasaurus Rexes! Our STEM projects required the participants to think outside the box and use their creative minds. A mystery was solved, and paper airplanes soared the sky, thanks to our little helpers.

Fun for the whole family

As much as the kids enjoyed the day, the parents were also stoked by the virtual BYCTWD. Many reached out and shared how it was “just what the family needed at this time.”

“Thank you to all the teachers for such a fun day for our kids! My daughter loved it, especially coding, and licking the bowl of the Rocky Road treats,” one parent shared.

We were so thrilled that the day was such a success and that it brought happiness to the homes of our Oracle Data Cloud families. As the Slack channel filled up with photos, it was clear that the day was also filled with positivity and joy.