Ask HN: How to best teach a group of children how to code?

I've done a little of this with 9-12 year olds. The most important thing is quick feedback and keeping it simple. They absolutely loved making websites. I taught them enough HTML to get started and set them up with a editor and preview window. I wrote a little web app for this, so that they were editing a "live" site they could show their parents when they went home (or keep working on it, on another computer). It was super simple and just had the functions they needed. Also, as someone else suggested, using the inspector tool to mess around with existing websites was really fun for them.

Another project was using arduinos -- and I even got them writing C, which more or less worked. You didn't need too much code to blink a light and they loved that. The mix of coding and the hands-on wiring up their breadboards kept it engaging. We did a little project where the light blinked with a frequency related to a temperature sensor, so when you put your finger on it, it would blink faster. One kid had the grand idea of having it blink faster when cooler and slower when warmer, and watching him figure out the math was great.

It depends on the kids' age. Older kids could probably handle Python though setting up + computer availability might an obstacle. If they have access to shared computers maybe javascript could be good since they can test things out in the browser.

For younger kids maybe a block-programming interface would be good: https://developers.google.com/blockly/ || https://snap.berkeley.edu/ || https://scratch.mit.edu/

For a less high-tech approach, you should look at http://csunplugged.org/ , e.g., http://csunplugged.org/binary-numbers/

In all cases I think the instruction/teaching is going to be key—through the physical presence and support. It will be comparatively more difficult to bootstrap and get them to learn by themselves. Peer tutoring is very promising though: See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk60sYrU2RU and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3jYVe1RGaU

It would be great if you write a blog post about this and what worked so people can follow in your footsteps. Good luck!

I think you said that better than me. I'm stealing this line as it's to good not to - "Code should be a playground. Give the kids a rich playground to run around in." Let me know if you want me to credit it to you ever.

I've always figured that this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leBEFaVHllE&t=89s

was a pretty smart way to start out. Its possibly the opposite of what you want as it is completely unrelated to tools/manuals/etc.

I used to help teach kids (12-16ish) how to code.

One thing that we always did towards the beginning of a class was an exercise where we tell them to write down the steps to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Then we'd literally get bread, peanut butter, and jelly, and follow their instructions to the letter. No one ever adequately describes the process: "put peanut butter on bread" - With what? the jar is closed, I can't! etc.

You might argue this introduces too imperative a thought process - but it gets the "computers do exactly what you tell them to" idea across very well.