Ask HN: Are there any children's websites that teach coding or coding concepts? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Are there any children's websites that teach coding or coding concepts?

#31

Post by brewgardn » Mon, Apr 01, 2013, 8:35 PM UTC

masterponomo wrote: post #22

This is not a website, but my kids LOVED The Art of Computer Programming (1st edition, when they still had the Maurice Sendak illustrations). The pictures in the volume on Sorting and Searching, though, are not recommended for kids under the age of 9.

The 1st edition of this?? http://amzn.to/179DGr8

Re: Ask HN: Are there any children's websites that teach coding or coding concepts?

#32

Post by stickhandle » Mon, Apr 01, 2013, 8:42 PM UTC

I recommend "Python for Kids" from O'reilly

Re: Ask HN: Are there any children's websites that teach coding or coding concepts?

#33

Post by newsreader » Mon, Apr 01, 2013, 9:12 PM UTC

A couple of free courses from Pluralsight:

http://pluralsight.com/training/Courses/Description/teaching...

http://pluralsight.com/training/Courses/Description/learning...

Re: Ask HN: Are there any children's websites that teach coding or coding concepts?

#34

Post by webwanderings » Mon, Apr 01, 2013, 9:38 PM UTC

jbellis wrote: post #15

http://www.crunchzilla.com/code-monster Also, +1 recommendation for Scratch.

Thanks, this looks like a winner. My son and I are using Scratch and Khan Academy. We'll add this as well (I'm not a programmer).

Re: Ask HN: Are there any children's websites that teach coding or coding concepts?

#35

Post by skanga » Mon, Apr 01, 2013, 11:26 PM UTC

If you have kids who are into Minecraft then check out https://blogs.oracle.com/arungupta/entry/introducing_kids_to...

Re: Ask HN: Are there any children's websites that teach coding or coding concepts?

#36

Post by jmeyer2k » Mon, Apr 01, 2013, 11:28 PM UTC

Check out some resources and this tutorial on my blog here: http://www.raywenderlich.com/24252/beginning-game-programmin... I'm 12 years old and I write for raywenderlich.com just for this purpose.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any children's websites that teach coding or coding concepts?

#37

Post by tianshuo » Tue, Apr 02, 2013, 1:25 AM UTC

nutmeg wrote: post #28

sopooneo wrote: post #3

I always thought the game "lightbot" might be good as part of a intro course. http://armorgames.com/play/2205/light-bot

Cargo-Bot ( http://twolivesleft.com/CargoBot/ ) on the iPad is also very similar in teaching programming.

The later Cargo-Bot levels esp. those with recursion are difficult for even the most proficient programmers.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any children's websites that teach coding or coding concepts?

#38

Post by jcl » Tue, Apr 02, 2013, 4:33 AM UTC

skanga wrote: post #35

If you have kids who are into Minecraft then check out https://blogs.oracle.com/arungupta/entry/introducing_kids_to...

Or you can install the ComputerCraft mod, which lets you build and program computers (and turtle robots!) within the game using Lua.

http://computercraft.info/wiki/Main_Page

Re: Ask HN: Are there any children's websites that teach coding or coding concepts?

#39

Post by groundCode » Tue, Apr 02, 2013, 9:44 AM UTC

What about Ruby for kids? http://ruby4kids.com/ruby4kids

Re: Ask HN: Are there any children's websites that teach coding or coding concepts?

#40

Post by geichel » Tue, Apr 02, 2013, 10:25 AM UTC

sopooneo wrote: post #3

I always thought the game "lightbot" might be good as part of a intro course. http://armorgames.com/play/2205/light-bot

I always use the first lightbot as an introduction to functions. The best part is when one student figures out the concept I encourage the class to 'cheat' from each other. I have them show each other the concept of functions. Its great fun to explain to the class that not only are they learning core computer science concepts but also that it is OK to build on others ideas and work together. Concepts that the schools to their best to knock out of our children for the sake of independent evaluation.