Please share what tools & approaches you use - it may Scratch, Python, any kids specific like Linux distros, Raspberry Pi or recent products like Lego Boost... Or your experiences with them.. thanks.
Ask HN: How do you teach you kids about computers and coding?
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Re: Ask HN: How do you teach you kids about computers and coding?
#2Ideally, I'd like to dive right into Android Studio and Kotlin. Since the inherent interest with phones, mobile gaming, cameras, videos, etc is already extant ;)
Another alternative, and I think a strong curriculum could be built around this. Is an intro to systems via Nintendo GameBoy and GBA. Using emulators and custom ROM development. A few college level courses already experiment with this route.
Re: Ask HN: How do you teach you kids about computers and coding?
#3My daughter is almost 5 and she picked up Scratch Jr in ten minutes. I am writing my suggestions mostly from the context of a younger child.
I approached it this way, I bought a book on Scratch Jr so I could get up to speed on it. I walked her through a few of the basics, and then I just let her take over after that.
One other programming related activity we have done is the Learning Resources Code & Go Robot Mouse Activity. She has a lot of fun with this as you have a small mouse you program with simple directions to navigate a maze to find the cheese. It uses a set of cards to help then grasp the steps needed. I switch to not using the cards after a while. We now just step the mouse through the maze manually adding steps as we go.
One other activity to consider is the robot turtles board game. This teaches some basic logic concepts needed in programming.
For an older child, I did help my nephew to learn programming in Python when he was a freshman in high school. I took the approach of having him type in games from the free Python book. I have always though this was a good approach for older kids to get the familiar with the syntax.
Something else I would consider would be a robot that can be programmer with Scratch. While I have not done this yet, I think for kid seeing the physical results of programming via a robot is a powerful way to capture interest.
Re: Ask HN: How do you teach you kids about computers and coding?
#4What age range are we talking about? For most kids aged 6-12 writing code is too abstract to start with. For my kids, I started making really simple projects with a Makey Makey. After that, I taught them the basics with Scratch, since there are tons of fun tutorials for kids. Right now, I'm building a Raspberry Pi-powered robot with my 10yo (basically it's a poor man's Lego Mindstorm).
The key is fun. The focus is much more on 'building something together' than 'I'll learn you how to code'. I'm pretty sure that if I were to press them into learning how to code it will only put them off. Sometimes we go for weeks without building on the robot, and all of the sudden she will ask me to work on it with her again.
Re: Ask HN: How do you teach you kids about computers and coding?
#5My daughter is almost 5 and she picked up Scratch Jr in ten minutes. I am writing my suggestions mostly from the context of a younger child. I approached it this way, I bought a book on Scratch Jr so I could get up to speed on it. I walked her through a few of the basics, and then I just let her take over after that. One other programming related activity we have done is the Learning Resources Code & Go Robot Mouse A…
Thanks for sharing about Scratch Jr. I had never heard about it before that I think my son is going to love it, not for the programming aspect of it but because he loves to make up stories with characters and being able to make them move around the screen I'm betting will be something he enjoys quite a bit.
It feels like a nice mix of Kidpix and Flash, both of which I spent a lot of time with as a youngster (obviously much less of a youngster during the Flash time).
Re: Ask HN: How do you teach you kids about computers and coding?
#6My daughter is almost 5 and she picked up Scratch Jr in ten minutes. I am writing my suggestions mostly from the context of a younger child. I approached it this way, I bought a book on Scratch Jr so I could get up to speed on it. I walked her through a few of the basics, and then I just let her take over after that. One other programming related activity we have done is the Learning Resources Code & Go Robot Mouse A…
Thanks for sharing about Scratch Jr. I had never heard about it before that I think my son is going to love it, not for the programming aspect of it but because he loves to make up stories with characters and being able to make them move around the screen I'm betting will be something he enjoys quite a bit. It feels like a nice mix of Kidpix and Flash, both of which I spent a lot of time with as a youngster (obviousl…
one of the features kids seem to love most about Scratch Jr is the character editing ability. You can also take pictures of yourself and super impose it on the characters.
Re: Ask HN: How do you teach you kids about computers and coding?
#7You lost me at coding.
Re: Ask HN: How do you teach you kids about computers and coding?
#8Minecraft. Redstone and commandblocks. Later set up a server that allows for plugins to install (spigot). Then install the javascript plugin and the kids can manipulate the minecraft worlds with javascript. Show them all the plugins available and they'll become annoyed with that one plugin that does not quite do what they want. And start to write their own. My 14 year old nephew is now writing a Harry Potter world with the spells and wands, in java.
But the most important thing however is to keep it fun. Let the kid choose his own path. ("Eclipse?! Really?! But Vscode is.... Oh well ")
Re: Ask HN: How do you teach you kids about computers and coding?
#9I'm waiting till he shows significant interest. If that never comes then I'm not going to try to make it happen. Much as I would like to be teaching programming to my kids, if they aren't that interested then such is life.
Re: Ask HN: How do you teach you kids about computers and coding?
#10While we are here, I'd like to ask another question that If kids need to be taught to code before they turn 12. First of all, HN being a place where board games are lauded before Digital Smartphone games, How is teaching kids to code (using digital devices) seen.
Also, a day back, Woz made this comment:
"Woz advice on coding for children. Meanwhile, Wozniak cautioned parents to not force coding skills to their wards until the age of 12. He explained that the first 12 years are pivotal and crucial in shaping cognitive and thinking mind. “Coding is very important. It doesn't need to be taught before 12 years."
I'm seriously looking for some thoughts to validate my idea that coding could be started from Kinder garden (as young as when they learn to count numbers)