At What Age Should My Child Start to Learn to Code for Kids?
You might think that your kid is not yet ready for coding classes. It might be very complex and challenging for them to understand, you say. Sometimes, you also worry if they will really learn inside the coding classes or are just going to play around in the study.
Mums and dads, you are not alone. Let me share with you how you can distinguish that your child is ready to step up inside classes to learn how to code.
Parents and their kids’ age
Parents who want their kids to start attending coding classes are torn between whether their kids are old enough to start coding or not. Like most modern parents, they tend to teach everything even at a very young age.
Some parents focus on developing their kids' natural child development, including physical and cognitive development. Other parents are naturally excited to teach young children new foreign languages to make them more competitive in the future. Others say that doing this would affect their native vocabulary language. We have many things that we want and don't want to teach our kids, especially when they are very young.
Similarly, parents believe that teaching coding for kids should not be abrupt and should not be overly challenging. But others think that it's best to start at a very young age. With all the nitty-gritty of whether it is the perfect age to allow your kids to learn to code, this blog will definitely help you know what age you should allow your child to start coding classes.
Start them very young
There's really no definite age for kids to learn coding since it will significantly depend on your child. Children's development is different for every child. But experts say that children should learn how to code at the earliest age possible.
In general, you can allow your kids to learn the basics of coding as early as 5 or 6 years of age. You can start using visual programming codes underneath picture books and interactive games that your kids can enjoy. Then, they can level up depending on their performance or their ability to accept new challenges in coding.
A code school in Sydney, Australia, welcomes 7 to 18 years old. However, they are also offering beginners coding for kids for ages 6+. Skill Samurai is a code school with courses suitable for primary schools, middle school, and even high school. Through this, your child can start coding while they are still young or any age you prefer.
Children who learn to code early can help achieve better academic performance in various core subjects. It is especially true for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and maths) subjects at the tertiary and future careers.
Think differently
Like any other parents, they only want what's best for their child. And part of preparing their kids to have a brighter future is to plan what they want their children to do to become successful.
For instance, it ensures that your kids always get good grades and eventually end up in top universities. As much as it gives your child a better status in life,t in the long run, what's actually more beneficial for kids is to develop life skills and tech competencies.
As an example, your child could acquire logical thinking skills by learning how to code. Not only that, but learning coding skills can also develop your child's creativity, artistry, and even critical thinking. Coding provides kids with problem-solving skills that they can apply in their academics, personal and professional life. A child would develop not only these life skills but also coding skills that can help your children create goal and solution-oriented thinking.
Coding can help children prepare themselves to establish a more competitive future in higher education and even future STEM jobs or other career paths. But most significantly, coding must first start in children so that they can apply all these when they get to start studying or working for their success.
One of the basic principles of coding is not only to learn coding skills but also to learn discipline and dedication. It can help build problem-solving skills that kids can use in daily challenges they encounter at home, school, and in their future STEM Education and career path. Coding establishes the ability to do logical thinking and reasoning, the two most essential skills a person should learn.
Learning how coding works step by step
Coding can also help children explore and research how a program works and what's behind it. It can help in their continuous learning and questioning in finding the correct answers. They would go beyond the program's step by step procedure and learn the logic behind codes.
Moreover, coding can enhance their patience and perseverance to try again whenever they make a mistake. They can go back and change the codes themselves to see what happens next.
And because children nowadays live in the digital world, one of the things that parents sometimes not recognise or even dread is when your children get so drowned and addicted to technology. These bad habits created by the everyday encounter with technological gadgets can significantly affect their physical health and behavioural aspects.
Sad as it may seem, but gadgets and technology are within the grasps of kids. And as parents, all we can do is make sure that we manage how our children use tech gadgets.
This is where coding comes in. Through coding, children would be able to go behind the scenes and see for themselves how the technology works through programming languages. They can learn how to power up websites, software, apps and other programs run by codes. Through this, they see the whole picture of how the technology works and understand how they can make changes through coding classes. Learning the step by step of coding can take them away from their addiction to techs and turn it into something valuable for their professional and personal life.
Code learning starts at home, then at school.
You found out the benefits of learning code for kids if it is taken step-by-step. Now, how would you really help them learn to code as early as possible? Where can they learn coding first? Here are some ways you can start at home and see if it goes to them.
#1 Teach them the basics of coding. The basics of coding would help your child not get frustrated at the very beginning of the lessons. Teaching them the concepts and primary principles will prepare their young minds on how coding works. Moreover, it would also allow them to understand the importance of code for kids.
Through this step, you may use varieties of coding books and picture books featuring programming kids. You could also use their gadgets to watch short coding videos and coding tutorials. Moreover, as parents, you may explain coding to them in simpler terms.
#2 Help them understand little by little. After you help your kid understand the basics of coding, they can continue familiarising the subject through other children. They can play with others through unplugged coding activities or other STEM tasks at home. They can also use DIY robots and coding toys to help them see how it works. Moreover, your kid could also play their video games and allow them to wonder how these games are created.
Parents may also bring their children to technology museums where they can see real robots and watch 3D printing.
#3 Begin with challenging activities. Once you let them observe coding, you may allow them now to try it on their own. They could experience these things and practise coding by themselves. Through this, you help them acquire the basic tech skills and enable them to apply coding in real life.
Parents may buy real coding robots and tech toys. It would help them build their own robots. You could also allow them to download Scratch App and perform simple coding activities. Not just that, you may help them design their own game in Roblox.
Through these challenging activities, your child is getting more interested in code learning. It invites them more to learn new ideas and experience new tasks.
#4 Expose them to more considerable coding challenges. Where can they learn coding after you introduce it at school? To properly hone your child’s coding skills, you need to help them begin with formal classes. They can receive a concrete and complete set of instructions through coding school. So, you may invest from there and see how your child captures all the coding skills needed for their future.
Code School for Kids and its curriculum
Skill Samurai is a code school mentioned earlier. It caters to ages seven to18 but also offers beginners’ lessons for ages 6+. In Skill Samurai’s curriculum, your child would learn the right skills for a bright tech career.
Primary Schools students would get a chance to foster critical thinking. It would also spark their interest in STEM learning, making them lifelong learners. Some of the tools to use for primary schoolers are block-based codings, Scratch, Kodu, Minecraft, and Roblox.
Your middle schoolers can also enter the code school. They would experience the basics, but they will also introduce more specialised activities such as career exploration, web development, video game design, digital art design, and beginners. Text-based coding will also be available for middle school students. These are HTML/CSS, JavaScript, Lua, Python, and other tools like Roblox, Minecraft, and YouTube.
Well, your high schoolers can also join Skill Samurai. It would help them prepare for college, career, and industry certification.
You see, Skill Samurai welcomes all learners. They are willing to help everyone to get equipped with career-ready skills suitable for technological development.
All in all, getting your kids into coding classes in the earliest years possible helps them develop their cognitive development. Through coding, kids can learn to think logically and reasonably, solve problems, and expand their creativity. They would also know what's behind the latest technological gadgets and machines they encounter every day and turn them into something more valuable for them in the future.
Introduce Coding Today
Are you ready to begin your child’s coding career? Do the previous steps narrowed down to you. Then, see how to code school would cater to your child’s development, at any age and level they are currently in.
Remember, start them young so they can get ready for their future jobs. The only question is, “Are you, as their parents, ready to help your child?”
If not, you are wasting your child’s precious developmental time. If yes, get started now.
Related Posts:
Why All Kids Should Learn Coding
