Coding is a popular topic in education right now and there’s no wonder why! It’s a necessary skill for students who want to pursue technology as a career. Whether you’re just starting out with coding or looking to build on it, why not try some coding activities for middle school students?
There are plenty of fun ways to teach coding to middle schoolers that require no computer and can be done at home, as homework, or as class-time activities.
Yeti Code
Yeti Code, the flagship learning resource from Yeti Academy, is a first-to-market multiplayer coding game and course your students will love. The opportunity to compete against peers even in a remote learning environment can help motivate students who may otherwise be less engaged in class or less enthusiastic about tech.
In addition to the multiplayer game environment, Yeti users have access to plenty of single-player games and levels. New coders begin with a palette of coding commands as they learn to think like a coder, then learn to type coding language from memory as they advance. The more efficient of a coder they become, the higher their score.
The Yeti team is planning to launch a free version of Yeti Academy with some code levels soon, although full access will only be available through a premium subscription. However, Yeti Academy also comes with a variety of engaging modules in other areas of STEM that you may wish to add to your curriculum. Yeti’s STEM modules come with extensive teacher resources such as lesson plans, tests, slide shows, and reporting features, making the curriculum truly all-inclusive.
GameMaker: Studio is an option if you want to make games that can be played in any web browser. The resources aren’t as comprehensive as with some of the other tools here and the community isn’t vibrant, but this one has been around for a while and might be fun for a more tech-savvy teacher.
SpaceChem is an interesting mix of chemistry, reading, and programming for ages 12 and up. As students read the 10,000-word novelette, they have to solve puzzles by assembling molecules. SpaceChem created a helpful guide for educators. This tool is available for download on Steam and installation on Windows, Mac, and Ubuntu. (Download a free demo.)
CodeCombat is a multiplayer game that teaches coding. It’s free to play at the basic level, and students don’t have to sign up. It has the advantage that teachers don’t have to know computer science to empower learning in programming. It’s recommended for ages 9 and up. See the teacher guide for the information and standards covered in this game.
Minecraft: Education Edition continues to be popular as the new owner of Minecraft, Microsoft, continues to collect and share best practices from classrooms.
Code Monkey Island is a board game designed for children ages 9 and up. This is a great addition to your game corner.
Codemoji
Codemoji is an emoji-based coding tool designed to demystify coding for students who use emojis in everyday communication. Each element of syntax has a corresponding emoji in the game. The lessons are sequential and focus on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript rather than syntax or typing.
Some reviewers note that Codemoji’s teacher dashboard can be buggy and the available design elements are limited once students progress to a certain level. However, many kids benefit from Codemoji’s core message, which is that coding doesn’t have to be any more complicated than chatting with emojis.
CodaKid
CodaKid is an online coding school that teaches kids how to build relatively complex video games, apps, websites, and more. The courses include a lot of references to popular games such as Minecraft and Roblox to help kids stay excited.
Like Yeti Academy, CodaKid is a subscription service. This program has the disadvantage of being partially client-based, which means you will need to download and install software on each student computer.
Scratch
Scratch can be a good starting point for students in third grade and up. This free online community has its own programming language designed to introduce children to coding concepts and encourage creativity. With Scratch, kids can design a variety of animations and games that they can share with their friends.
A downside of Scratch is that it is difficult for teachers to monitor what their students are creating, especially given that there are rarely clear “answer keys” for what students try to create. Some users also complain that Scratch users can easily take something another user has created without direct permission by adding minimal changes in what is known as a “remix”, which has generated some controversy. In many cases, Scratch is better used as a resource for families rather than a curriculum component.
CodeMonkey
CodeMonkey has different coding-based courses for different grade levels, including a math and coding program for grades 2-4 and a game creation course for grades 6-8. The games include a combination of progressive programming challenges and fun graphics students will enjoy.
Some users critique CodeMonkey for only catering to average students. Struggling students may need extra help beyond the hints in the games, and advanced students sometimes find that challenges move too slowly. Nevertheless, these coding games can still be a good option for schools that can provide solid teacher support.
Code.org
Code.org is a nonprofit with several free coding course options that allow students to pass through levels as they progress. Students work at their own pace and have access to a variety of lessons, offline activities, and tutorials. Teachers can use a dashboard that allows them to assign activities and monitor progress.
However, there’s not as much freedom in Code.org courses for students to experiment or compete with each other. Some students, especially older ones, may get bored with this curriculum.
LightBot
LightBot is a puzzle game that helps students understand basic programming practices and concepts. Specifically, students learn:
- Sequencing
- Overloading
- Procedures
- Recursive Loops
- Conditionals
While the full app does have a small price ($2.99 per download), they have a free demo version that will fill about an hour of class time.
To go along with the LightBot demo game, they have a great overview that explains how the game teaches coding.
This is an excellent resource for teachers who are unfamiliar with coding, with examples and screenshots to make sure you can answer common questions from students.
Overall, you could easily use the free LightBot game to introduce the basics of coding in one class period.
You could also combine LightBot with the next option on our list — SpriteBox!
SpriteBox
SpriteBox is another logic puzzle game from the creators of LightBot. SpriteBox is more of a platformer-style game (like Super Mario Bros.) that teaches the basics of coding.
While going through the game, students will enter “code mode” at certain points to advance through the levels.
The concepts students learn from SpriteBox include:
- Sequencing
- Parameters
- Loops
- Procedures
- Basic Swift / Java Syntax
The full version of SpriteBox costs $4.99 per download, but like LightBot, there is a free version available.
The free version of SpriteBox is made up of four levels, with each level relating to different aspects of coding. While these lessons will only fill about an hour of class time, it’s a great way to introduce the basics to your students!
If you want more than just a one-off activity, the next resource on our list has an abundance of options!
Hour of Code
The Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science that takes place during Computer Science Education Week every year.
However, you can use the resources on the Hour of Code website any time of year! With hundreds of activities to choose, it’s a great place to get your feet wet with teaching your students to code.
You can find the most relevant activities to your classroom by using the filters such as grade level and classroom technology.
What’s great about the Hour of Code website is they don’t just link to the coding activities — they also show you details like:
- The creator of the activity
- An overview
- Related resources
- Level of student experience needed
- Classroom technology needed
- Topics
- Activity type
- Length of activity
- Available languages
- Related standards
Because each activity takes approximately one hour, Hour of Code resources are perfect additions to your existing course materials without you needing to rearrange too many lessons!
But if you want something more structured than an activity here or there, our next option could be the perfect fit for you.
Code.org
Code.org is one of the most well-known computer science resources out there. While they are the organization behind the Hour of Code, Code.org has its own separate computer science curriculum.
The two options for middle school classes are called Computer Science Discoveries and Computer Science Fundamentals Express.
Code.org describes the Computer Science Discoveries curriculum in this way:
“Students engage with computer science as a medium for creativity, communication, problem solving, and fun.
The course inspires students as they build their own websites, apps, games, and physical computing devices.”
The curriculum covers foundational topics across six units:
- Problem Solving
- Web Development
- Animations and Games
- The Design Process
- Data and Society
- Physical Computing
Because Computer Science Discoveries is a fully-fledged curriculum, Code.org includes a 46-page curriculum guide. In the guide, you’ll find your lesson plans, standards mappings, teacher resources, and more.
Overall, Computer Science Discoveries could be everything you need to teach a coding class from day one.
But if you’re looking for something more supplemental, Code.org’s other middle school computer science curriculum could be a better fit.
The Computer Science Fundamentals Express course teaches foundational programming concepts by using drag-and-drop blocks. It’s a 30-hour course that Code.org encourages you to teach in-class or as part of an afterschool program.
This “express” course is an accelerated version of the Computer Science Fundamentals elementary school courses.
Because of this, you may notice a few things that seem geared toward younger kids (because they are).
However, if you take time to sort through the content, it’s still a great way to introduce foundational programming concepts to middle school students.
As a bonus, Code.org has a self-paced course for teachers that you can take to learn the ins-and-outs of what your students will learn in Computer Science Fundamentals Express!
Want something with a clear structure like Code.org, but not ready to implement a full curriculum? The last option on our list has the best of both worlds.
Scratch
Scratch is a popular system that allows students to create their own games, animations, and interactive stories.
It was designed specifically for students aged 8-16, so it will be a great resource to use in middle school.
Scratch has a few different areas on the website – ideas, explore, and create.
In the Ideas section of the site you’ll find introductory activities that teach coding basics in engaging scenarios such as animating a character or creating a story.
In addition to the student tutorial, each activity comes with an educator guide.
The educator guide is essentially a detailed lesson plan that will help you keep students on track with the tutorial.
It’s a simple yet crucial piece of ensuring both you and the students have success!
These introductory activities will take approximately one hour each, so you could use them to easily fill your requirements for coding!
If you’d like to give students an opportunity to create more detailed projects, have them check out the Explore and Create areas.
In the Explore area they can look at projects others have created to get ideas or even create their own remixed version.
Then in the Create section your students can actually create projects “from scratch” using code. Giving students a chance to build their own creations could be the perfect way to round out your coding lessons!
Conclusion
Coding is the new learning language in the 21st century. As computer programs become part of our daily lives, coding has also helped develop new jobs that are always needed. There are many coding activities that you can engage your children with even if they have not had any exposure to computers.