How the kids stole the show: Young Coders tutorial at PyCon

We just had Boise Code Camp 2 weeks ago. We had one talk on Kid Programming, which was given by two 11 year olds (using Scratch) and a 6 year old (using LOGO) -- and two of them were girls. We put the talk in one of our larger rooms and we packed it. People standing in the back and sitting on the floor.

As an aside, just about every year we have had a large number of parents attending who would bring one or two kids with them. Out of 400 people I could usually 15-20 people younger than 18. We have not had any trouble because of it.

I think there is a lot of interest, both from kids and parents, to learn about programming. A our code camp, I'm hoping to open up multiple sessions for kids (I'd like to have a multiple hour block). Some of those kids already have good resumes going. One I saw in particular was able to talk on Java and C without any difficulty (and he preferred vi as his editor) -- he was maybe 12.

For other conference organizers, (if you have room) please consider having talks aimed at kids. But also just encourage parents to bring their tech interested kids with them.

I think we would have had a disaster of our own, if we had done this without volunteers. Kids are notorious for not speaking up if they're having issues, and from the front, a kid that is 'getting' it looks the same as a kid that's completely lost.

I was surprised at how many people wanted to volunteer, as well! We already have a list of eager people for next year.

I really think, more than anything, this is why we should be teaching kids to code and so on in school. Most of the good coders I know have been doing it from a young age, and I think a lot of it comes from the fearlessness of youth.

Personally, I know I owe a lot to this. I "broke" the computer more times than I can count, by just experimenting, playing and otherwise doing stuff that I now know to be "reckless". There was a guy in the IT department and my dad's work who gave me an absurd number of hours of free tech support and teaching, because I couldn't figure out how to undo some of those mistakes, and would patiently walk me through getting things put right before my folks came home from work. (In retrospect, I don't think they would have minded, but I didn't want to get in trouble for breaking the expensive toy!)