As we all know, getting our kids excited to learn something new can be extremely difficult. Whether it is about math or just simple everyday tasks like doing laundry, teaching kids how to do anything can be really frustrating sometimes. They have a short attention span and on top of that, they easily get bored once you start teaching them.
That being said, teaching kids how to code would require a lot of time, effort, and patience. So to help you make this process a lot easier, we have listed a few coding tools that can come in handy as you teach your kids how to code.
It is worth pointing out that some of the tools we have listed are commonly used by universities, instructors, and professional coders to teach kids. Therefore, we highly suggest you check them all out as well.
CodaKid
Online kids coding camps are an up-and-coming educational service industry nowadays. It has been gaining a lot of traction over the past few years because many parents are now seeing the effectiveness and convenience of online learning.
Programs like Codakid are a great learning platform for aspiring coders and developers. Their modules and materials are specifically geared towards kids learning. So no matter what age group your kids belong to, they can easily catch up with the lessons and learn even text-based coding languages like CSS, Java, and JavaScript.
Another plus side to online coding programs like this is their accessibility and support. Your kid can read and download the learning materials anytime and anywhere. On top of that, CodaKid has an amazing pool of mentors and professionals that your kid can easily reach out to. So if they are ever stuck in a problem or hit a roadblock on the way, they can just chat and ask their mentors for help.
Given that the mentors are also professional developers and coders, they can easily address your kid's problem and even help them make their project more fun and exciting. Therefore, aside from being a great learning platform, Codakid can also double up as a learning tool that would help and guide your kids as they learn new coding and programming languages.
Scratch
If you already tested out coding for kids programs or checked out some online courses for kids, then you probably know (or heard) of Scratch already.
Scratch is a block-based programming application made for kids. Rather than use the old "Hello, World!" teaching approach, instructors nowadays use the Scratch software to teach kids the fundamentals of coding instead. Your kid wouldn't have to memorize a block of indecipherable codes just to print "Hello, World!" They can just easily drag and drop the commands.
These features and user experience that Scratch provides to students are really helpful, especially if your kids are just in the initial stage of learning. Aside from the fact that the cool graphics and kid-friendly language make information a lot easier to digest and understand, the result of their effort is also a lot more tangible. Your kid can easily see the result of their hard work from learning. That being the case, they would be motivated to learn more about coding and programming on their own.
Other than the amazing features of Scratch, one of the added bonuses that makes Scratch extra special is the community built around it. Given the fact that Scratch is targeted for kids' learning and is commonly used by instructors, teachers, parents, and even universities from all over the world, your kid can easily share and learn from other students' projects as well.
Workspace
Since almost every kid nowadays likes to play video games, why not let them create their own video game through coding, right?
Eliciting intrinsic motivation like creating video games is one of the best ways to teach complex concepts to kids. Intrinsic motivations are simply making every learning task enjoyable and turning projects into play.
And Roblox is a great starting point to do just that. It is an app that lets everyone upload and share their own video games on the platform for free. And since you want to teach your kids how to code, you can use Workspace to create games that are compatible and playable in the Roblox app.
Even though Workspace is specifically for Roblox coding and games only, it is still a great learning exercise for your kid. It would not only foster your kid's creativity, but it would also introduce them to complex coding languages like Lua.
Swift Playgrounds
Another great educational tool that you can use is Swift Playgrounds. It is an app created by Apple that specifically teaches kids Swift (the programming language used by Apple).
Since they mainly market this app for beginners, your kids would not have a hard time catching up even if they have no background knowledge in coding. The app itself is kid-friendly and easy to use. Apart from the cool graphics and fun puzzles, the app also displays the text-based translation of the code. So not only would your kids have fun while learning, but they would also be introduced to the text-based form of Swift too.
Learning or being familiar with these text-based codes from early on would make every kid's learning journey a lot easier. Because as we all know, your kid would eventually have to transition and learn these text-based codes at some point. So why not start them early, right?
But, always keep in mind that they are still a kid. Introducing text-based codes is great but building foundational skills and knowledge are far more important. With that said, Swift Playground is the perfect app if you are now transitioning and moving on to teaching your kids text-based codes.
Getting Started
All in all, these educational tools would help any young and aspiring coders out there.
It is just a matter of utilizing these tools and getting the best out of them. And as their parents and teacher, it is our job to test out these tools first and see whether our kids would like it or not. Because in the end, we know our kids better than anyone else and we would be the ones teaching them all of this complex stuff about coding.