Last week I made the case for the need for kids to develop the skill of computational thinking through learning how to write software or "code". I hear you asking what can I do to give my kids the opportunity to get into it?
Firstly the
Australian Curriculum has a subject called Digital Technologies which in part requires that kids be taught how to code. So in theory our kids will get the needed skills in school. However, at present, theory and practice are a long way apart. This is because the teachers have generally received no training themselves. Whilst
state governments are providing some funding these programs are in their infancy and for those in the private system your school probably has to sort this out for themselves.
So schools will take a while to get fully into gear but what to do if you would like to give your kids some exposure now or maybe your child has a real interest in making a computer do stuff! Well you are actually spoiled for choice. There is a great array of free and paid programs online and a bunch of "toys" specifically designed to teach kids how to code. Knowing what is good and what is not so good is a challenge so I hope to make it easy and provide a list of what I have found to be the best on offer after experimenting on my kids. (They haven't tried everything though!)
Before I make a list I should start by pointing everyone to
code.org. This organisation is a non-profit dedicated to expanding access to computer science, and increasing participation by women and underrepresented minorities. Their vision is that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science. They do that by producing and providing a FREE series of fantastic coding courses. This site should probably be your first stop. Code.org also organises an annual global event called "
The Hour of Code" in which tens of MILLIONS of kids around the world do at least one hour of code during one week in December.
However one limitation with code.org is that you have to be able to read and as they say you are never too young to learn. For the pre-readers there are a couple of excellent apps that introduce the coding concepts.
Lightbot is a puzzle game that requires kids to light up tiles on a 3D grid by using sequenced steps and identifying patterns. The difficulty does ramp up quickly so for the youngest I recommend you just get the free hour of code version initially.
Kodable is another puzzle game which also teaches the basics of coding. It is free to download and you get to play about half of the first level. If you like it then you can purchase to unlock more content.I really like the first world of Kodable (Smeeborg) as it teaches a wide range of skills however I did find the later worlds a little more abstract and I need to look at that further to see if I there is value there.
For the early readers my kids liked another app called
Tynker. The app is relatively inexpensive with a couple of free levels. The majority of their content is online which requires an annual subscription. My 8 year old daughter enjoys the online challenges although starting out I would recommend sticking with code.org. Having said that Tynker does have an series of lessons which integrate with Minecraft so if you have a child mildly addicted to that and you would like them to get something more educational out of it then this might be an option worth looking into.
In terms of physical toys that will teach kids to code I like
Dash and Dot. They aren't cheap but with a wide array of sensors and multiple ways to be programmed they should last quite a few years of coding progression.
As kids progress and show an interest you can't go past
Scratch. This is the most popular online graphical programming language and its FREE! There are innumerable books which can be used to learn from or just see what others have done and learn by osmosis! It is more powerful than possibly many give it credit for.
If you use a
Raspberry Pi as the platform for Scratch then the possibilities are opened up for controlling lights and motors.The Raspberry Pi also supports other programming environments such as Python and for those musically inclined
SonicPi.
Robots from the
Makeblock company can be programmed in Scratch and provide a logical next step for those that want to add a design element to the coding problem. MakeBlock has a wide range of robots to fit most budgets. They have also recently released a pink version of their smallest robot (which is a great cheaper alternative to Dash and Dot) in a bid to appeal to more girls. Of course no mention of robots would be complete without mentioning Lego. The
WeDo 2.0 and
Mindstorms kits provide a solid platform for learning the basics of coding as well as covering the engineering design elements as well.
What you should see your kids learning is the ability to break a problem down into steps, to see patterns that they can exploit to simplify the code and a drive to solve the problem even when it doesn't work the first (or tenth!) time.
All of the resources above will likely keep most kids satisfied for years but there is plenty more available to challenge those that are keen. I will cover those in a later blog. For those that would prefer to not self-teach then keep an eye on the Stuff To Do section below for those in Brisbane or search for coding classes in your area.
Have you found any other coding courses or toys that your kids love and are getting great results from?
