How to Jumpstart Your Kids Interest to Programming
Coding or programming seems complex and complicated. However, even your kid can learn and master kids' coding even at their very young age. Your child does not need to be a computer whiz, nerd, adults, or ultimately genius just to understand the world of coding.
Besides, it is an advantage that your kid is living in the 21st century where technology is a big part of their everyday life. Your child is indeed familiar with using tablets, smartphones, and computers with lots of platforms, software, and applications they love. So, why not use this kind of interest to make them learn coding at a young age?
Why start teaching coding for kids?
Before discussing the suggested ways for your child to learn coding, let’s first see the importance of teaching kids coding.
Your kid is considered a blank slate and someone who has vast storage in learning and discovering new things. As they are growing up, this slate is being filled with information, ideas, and knowledge. So, why not use this time to let them begin discovering coding? After introducing it to them, the lessons of programming will then become part of their mind.
How awesome would it be to have a kid who masters coding for kids?
Other than that, your child is living in the technological world from where devices and gadgets are necessities. In the near future, there could be more technological advancements that require more expertise in programming.
They are starting to teach them from preschool sharpening their mind for the coding world. It even prepares them now before they face more complex ideas of the technology.
Besides these reasons, there is still a long list of practical skills they can obtain while taking code learning for kids.
Why is Code learning for kids important?
Code learning for kids helps your child master different life skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, designing, creativity, resilience, and self-confidence.
Through different coding activities and platforms, your child can enhance their problem-solving skills. They will try to fix things, debug them, and solve them in their ways. Before making a solution and decision, they need to use observation alongside critical thinking. So your child undergoes training for their intellectual capabilities.
Besides these, your child can also design, plan, and build games independently whilst learning codes. It will help them increase their creativity and innovative thinking.
Moreover, coding is related to all STEM (science, technology, engineering, and maths) subjects, so your kid can excel with the said courses as they begin to understand how programming works.
Coding is everywhere, especially in the digital world. So, it is beneficial for your child to enhance these skills whilst mastering how to code at a very young age.
Is it really possible for your child to learn coding for kids?
Through these features and benefits of coding to your kids, it is evident that your child can really learn to code. How early? As early as preschool or 7 years of age, you can introduce the world of coding to your kid.
But then, how can you teach or introduce it to them? Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered. Here are the practical tips on how to jumpstart your kid’s interest in coding. Some of these are already proven by parents and teachers. So, you can try it on your own, too.
Tips to get kids excited about coding
Here are some of the main things you need to consider whilst introducing kids coding to your children. You may include one or two of these suggestions, but it is most certainly effective to do them all.
Witness for yourself how these things can improve your ways of teaching coding to kids.
Emphasise creativity. Coding seems boring due to the coding languages. However, you can make it more fun and exciting by tickling the young mind’s imagination. So, you may use several games, applications, drawings, and even robots during the class. You may also use familiar things for children like LEGO blocks, puzzles, and other exciting art forms. In this way, you ensure your kid’s creativity side sparkles along with learning coding for kids.
Promote exploration. The learning approach for 21st Century includes experimental and experiential learning. It allows students to try things individually as they also discover new understandings independently. Besides that, it also allows them to wonder about things around them and enables them to solve problems on their own.
Similar to this concept, code learning for kids is vital to have exploration and discoveries. So, you may provide coding projects, challenges, and experimentations that include brain teasers and headwork. As a result, they would become more curious and thrilled to find answers, indulging themselves more in computer sciences.
Care for your kid’s passion. Your child’s interest is another vital factor to introduce programming successfully. If you hit this accurately, kids would genuinely give their full attention to the learning process. So, as a parent, you should determine what interests your child the most.
Some kids love designing, so why not start with that? Let them imagine and draw the character or games they want to play. Then, use this way to teach them how to build it on the computer through coding languages. In this case, your child would wholeheartedly participate because they genuinely enjoy it.
Friends and peers. Another secret to help your child enjoy programming at a very young age is to have kids of their same age to play with. So, you may find children, classmates or their brothers and sisters to try coding together. If you did this, you are helping them gain inspiration from one another.
Some games, activities, and tasks are suitable for a larger group of players. If you invest time and effort to conduct these activities, your child and their friends would be motivated to try them.
Aside from that, kids who also learn coding inside the school with their classmates can also guide them. Your child would notice how other kids participate in the activity, making them interested in it too. Through these ways, your kid would create projects and learn with them about coding for kids.
Mentorship. Besides kid’s peers, your child can also find motivation from their instructors. It could be you, as their parent, or someone professional to teach coding for kids. Mentoring your child to learn to code would guide them easily in every phase of code learning. Furthermore, a mentors can share tons of tips and strategies in coding and programming.
You could be the primary mentor of your child for coding, even if you do not master it. How? With simple instructions online and coding books, you can start introducing coding concepts to your child. However, to make things more accurate and precise, a real programming tutor or coding tutor could lend you a hand.
Reaching out to someone skilled and experienced in teaching coding would totally provide excellent learning opportunities to your kid.
Light and fun. Kids would also love learning things if they did not see it as a required or a strict class. That is why it is practical to make code learning fun and light. You may include activities that are pretty easy, followed by an intermediate task for them. Afterwards, you can now have serious challenges once you already get their full attention.
Another tip to ensure fun and light coding lessons is to prevent forcing them. You should not pressure them within the classes. If they are not in the mood, do something else that would incorporate coding concepts and skills.
For parents like you to have a great jumpstart to kids’ programming, here are some ways you may invest in.
Practical ideas in teaching child coding and programming
Beginner coding games
If you use modules, lectures, or tutorials for kids, it might be so useful at all. Your kid might think of it as a boring class. However, if you introduce them to coding using beginner kids coding games, then you might make it smoothly!
Here is how it works.
- Create a 3x3 grid of squares using a tape (or chalk marker if you are outside). Then, mark one of the squares as "x", representing the final destination.
- Afterwards, explain to your child the reminders on reaching the “x” using the laid-out arranged arrows.
- Try to move on each square with your child as you follow the directions through the arranged arrows.
- Once they understand the mechanics, you can now use a character among their stuffed toys.
- Now, assign your child to be the computer and the other child as the programmer. The programmer needs to utilise the cards to give directions to the computer. So, the computer must move the stuffed toys according to the shown instruction of the programmer.
- The coder must direct the computer to the “x” to finish the game.
- Switch members for everyone to try the game.
After playing the game, explain to your child the importance of the arrow language to give rules and step-by-step instructions. So, your kid will then relate the game to the task of the programmers to provide instructions to the computer. They will also see that the computer works properly due to the given step-by-step directions from the coder.
See, a simple game can help your child understand the logic of coding. However, other than this kind of game, there are still many ways you can try among all the unplugging coding games.
Tech and engineering toys
Using toys, you may let your kid play and explore the games you hand them. Give them a chance to see and touch these as they bring themselves to play with it.
One of the popular tech toys to use while introducing coding for kids is the Fisher-Price Think & Learn Code-a-pillar. The toy caterpillar has different attachments that cause the toy to move in different directions you want. So, if you may ask your child to attach various segments to instruct the direction of the caterpillar while it moves.
Once your child understands how caterpillars work, return to the 3x3 grid to make the game more interesting. Replace “x” with lego bricks so it looks like the food of the caterpillar. Then, ask your child to arrange the attachments depending on its starting point to its rewards or the lego bricks.
Through this kids coding toy, your child will learn how attachments control the whole caterpillar. If the first attachment says to move forward, then the caterpillar will run forward. On the other hand, if your child added a turn right attachment, then the caterpillar turns to the right. In this case, they will begin to realise that each instruction covers the performance, like how a coder and computer work together to create platforms.
Online and digital games
You can also use the gadgets to have a good jumpstart of code learning for kids. Several popular games like Scratch, Roblox, Minecraft, and Python are great starters. You can download these applications on your child’s devices for them to discover how to build games like these. But then, make sure to have a schedule for their screen time to prevent screen addiction.
Kids Coding Classes
One effective way of teaching your child about kids coding is the coding classes for kids. A kids coding school in Sydney is the Skill Samurai. Skill Samurai offers afterschool care of coding and robotics classes for kids ages 7 to 18. It also provides excellent computer classes for kids, programming classes for kids, and robotics classes for kids. Through kids coding class, your child will learn, together with young learners, from expert programmers. They will begin to see and understand the world of coding and computer science using fun, exciting, and entertaining programming activities.
Start teaching your child about coding at home. However, to ensure their mastery in coding and programming, enrol in face-to-face classes conducted by Skill Samurai. Let Skill Samurai introduce coding to your child today. Click here to begin.
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