Kids sure love their screen time. They might as well do something productive with it, like learning to code in a playful way.
When schools closed in 2020 due to the pandemic, we wanted to contribute to keeping children entertained. We started offering free 3-hour coding workshops for kids. During these sessions, children created their own games step by step. Making games is a lot of fun of course, and as a bonus, they got to use some basic programming logic. For example: if the right arrow key is pressed, then turn the character to the right and move 10 steps. This could get a bit more advanced too. We used the Scratch tool from MIT for this purpose. It was a huge success; in 2020, we had over 500 participants in the kids’ courses. Eventually, businesses started showing interest, hiring us to offer workshops to their employees’ children. Apart from coding workshops, we also conducted sessions on online safety. (The trainers found these sessions just as enjoyable as the participants; the children’s input was truly fantastic.)
Lately, we’ve been receiving quite a lot of questions from our students: how can I teach my kids some basic programming principles in a fun way? Or perhaps you’re looking for a fun gift for the child of a friend who’s a software developer. You’ll find some suggestions below!
Exciting Resources to Help Kids Learn Programming (Online)
Scratch
Scratch is a favorite here because it allows you to easily create your own games while learning to code. You don’t have to type actual code; instead, you drag and drop basic programming blocks to achieve certain tasks. You can find our Dutch tutorial on BrightBoost Youtube.
Code.org
Recreate existing games and solve problems by programming with blocks, there are minecraft-like puzzles for example. This is a very user-friendly tool that always hits the spot. Suitable for children around 8 years old and certainly challenging enough to remain enjoyable until around 14/15.
CodeMonster
Primarily in English, but with page translation, you’ll manage just fine. A fun tool to learn some real coding! Therefore, it might only become interesting from around 12 years old. You can find it here.
Cool Toys (for both parents and kids) for Programming
I might be a little too much of an enthusiast, but we try out many of these things at home. Most of them are still a bit too advanced for our kids, but there are also items suitable for the very young ones.
Sphero: Fun for Parents Too
A ball that you can program to follow various routes, with obstacle courses and multiple control methods. Little Bits, also from the brand Sphero, are a lot of fun too. It’s a pity that this brand is quite expensive, but it truly has beautiful toys!
Hello Ruby
The book Hello Ruby is great for reading adventures with programming puzzles. The other books in this series are also great for teaching kids about computers. I think these books can be enjoyable from around 7 years old.
Fisher-Price Caterpillar: for the Tiny Programmers
For children from around 2 years old, Fisher-Price has a caterpillar that is “programmable.” By arranging the links in a certain order, the caterpillar follows a specific path. I’ve never had this myself, but it sounds very amusing.
Robot Cat
And then there are countless robot cats, bunnies, and dogs that you can program with an app! Fun gifts, like this one from Clementoni.
