Ask HN: Please share your experience teaching your kids to program

Had very good experience using Python as first programming language for 8-9 year-olds; professionally, I don't like it, though.

And even though I prefer it over Python as a language, I had disastrous results teaching Javascript to 12-14 year-olds for light browser games. My intent was to bring kids with signs of early stage addiction to mobiles "onto the other side", by looking at games professionally and with creativity (as much as I could, anyway). Turned out fiddling with async and rAF is really a bad fit for learning basics.

My daughter (who just turned 4) seemed like she might like programming, so I started out having her "program" a stuffed walrus, by telling it whether to go forward, backward, left, or right to get to a piece of food. Her natural inclination was to point to where it should go, so I first taught her that the walrus doesn't understand pointing or the word "here", just the directions.

Then we started "programming each other" by telling each other where to go, and I introduced doing multiple steps at once (like "step forward 5 times").

My goal wasn't literally to teach her to program, but just to introduce that way of thinking, which is pretty different from how we normally think in day-to-day life.

She was excited about it, so I got her the Osmo programming kit for iPad. You program a little monster walking around, using physical, scratch-style code blocks. She's been excited about programming the monster every day, and is able to (sometimes) do some short programs of a couple blocks.

If she learns a bit more, my plan is to show her how to program a simple lego robot with scratch, like one that spins a flag when it sees something pink. I love that idea because with 2 lines of code you can make something really happen in the world, plus she'll be able to come up with new ideas for the robot on her own, and learn about the constraints, sensors, and eventually more basic programming logic.

Ah, how I wish I was game dev instead of working mostly on Java backends for large financial institutions (and actually spending most of the time in meetings).

I am pretty interested in the modding Minecraft with Scratch part. I have found some abandoned projects. Can you point me to what you have used that worked for you?

Happy it worked for your girl and little scared she started at 5. I have two boys, one is 7 and the other is 4. The younger one is inseparable from the older so I wonder how it is going to be different for him.

I have been thinking about who gets to actually program. For now I am happy that mixed routine where we regularly switch works for him (he seems to be happy and engaged) and so I think I will continue this way for some time before I experiment with it.

I see that the best results we got were when he actually himself figured some stuff and made it by himself. His first machine -- ugly chest to destroy unnecessary items with a noisy clock that runs constantly whether there are items or not -- is still occupying middle of main room of our hobbit hole but I don't think I will touch it, because he was so happy when he got it to work.

I learned programming when I was 8 years old from books and experimenting

Mostly helpful was that I had a 386, QBASIC and GORILLA.BAS, but not much else. No games and no internet

On the one hand, taxes are boring.

On the other hand, pretty much everyone I know wishes they had learned more about how taxes work in high school beyond the very high-level concepts of progressive taxes....