Simply put, coding is the process of using a programming language to write instructions for a computer. While coding might seem daunting to an early learner or someone unfamiliar with computer programming, it can actually be really fun!
When you’re first learning how to code, you take the same kinds of math and literacy lessons that your peers are taking in school. The sheer joy of being able to program something to do what you want it to do provides the incentive for students at this level to learn how to do it.
Tynker
Tynker offers a fun interface to teach coding through. Building confidence is their #1 goal!
Why it’s great for kids: Ages 5-18 can use this website! Students can learn block code and text code depending on their level.
- Pros: Global reach and endorsed by many viable companies
- Cons: Immersive puzzles can get frustrating if a student is not ready for a specific level
Price: $126/year
CodeSpark
This app allows children to learn coding through games.
Why it’s great for kids: Great for younger kids (middle school and under). This is a fun, non-serious way to immerse your child in code. It is low investment and engaging.
- Pros: Building blocks to early literacy
- Cons: No live instruction; completely game-based
Price: $119.88/year
Coding with Kids
Coding with Kids is a coding academy with many options for topics, class types, and frequency of courses.
Why it’s great for kids: Kids ages 5 and up will enjoy this site. You can tier the course selections based on your child’s age and interest.
- Pros: Very organized and leveled to ensure your child is properly placed.
- Cons: Lots of choices and rigid times
Price: One per week for 8 weeks is $195
Juni Learning
Juni learning offers one-on-one coding courses for children. Students purchase a membership for access.
Why it’s great for kids: This is suitable for ages 8-18. Children get personalized attention and get to be met where they are in their coding journey.
- Pros: 1:1 teacher
- Cons: No collaboration with peers
Price: Options for membership are $250, $450, and $650 depending on the tier.
Codemoji
This site is designed for children to learn the basics of web development. The learning program is adaptable and easy to use.
Why it’s great for kids: This site is best suited for 1st-8th graders. The site creates a play space where children are challenged and stimulated to learn.
- Pros: Adaptable, engaging, and fun.
- Cons: Limited interest for more advanced coding students
Price: $55/year
Kodable
Kodable teaches coding through the basics. Games and creative activities are designed to prompt problem solving skills.
Why it’s great for kids: It’s accessible to children 5 and up. The optimization feature allows the system to be tiered for your child’s ability and interest.
- Pros: Learning tools and progress updates are exciting for parents and teachers.
- Cons: Requires dedication from student and self-discipline
Price: $59.99/year
Codecademy
Codecademy is meant for more advanced coders looking to explore career options. This site offers interactive courses with feedback for students to analyze their learning.
Why it’s great for kids: Codecademy is a good fit for students aged middle school and up. This offers kid-friendly classes that will teach cutting-edge code for future jobs.
- Pros: Self-paced with many options and feedback
- Cons: Feedback may be challenging to respond to if you get stuck
Price: $239.52 for the year for the pro package.
Create & Learn
Create & Learn offers free introductory live video coding courses for kids K-12 in Scratch, robotics, mobile apps, game development, and more. The curriculum was designed by experts from Google, MIT, and Stanford with kids in mind. Children have the opportunity to earn a coding certificate for every milestone they hit.
Why it’s great for kids:
- Pros: Collaborative, fun way to learn from experts live in small groups, and personalized learning paths from a best-in-class curriculum
- Cons: Can’t watch on-demand, need to pick a scheduled class time ahead of time
Format: Online, game Ages: 5+ years Cost: Free
The home of Hour of Code, Code.org incudes interactive tutorials and projects for grades K-5 and 6-12, staring off with block coding before moving into Javascript, HTML and CSS.
It’s a comprehensive resource, perfect for learning to code in the classroom or at home.
Click through to learn more about code.org.
Format: Online, learn coding through game play Ages: 8+ years Cost: Free
Gamester Mechanic uses fun, game based quests to help coders learn game design, with the goal to code and share their own video games. Free to play and learn at home and school, it’s a popular choice in Information & Computer Technology classrooms.
Check out Gamestar Mechanic here.
Scratch & Scratch Jr
Format: Online, app Ages: 5/8+ years Cost: Free
For kids aged 8-16 years, Scratch provides a fabulous, intuitive platform where kids can program interactive stories, games, and animations using block programming — and share their creations with others in a supportive online community.
Younger children can learn too with Scratch Jr, created for 5-7 year olds.
Scratch is free to use for all coders, and schools can access the tools license-free.
Scratch coding is a fun way to engage students with coding through play. Children create animations using block code.
Why it’s great for kids: Ages 5 and up can navigate Scratch. Ideally, Scratch is designed for elementary to lower middle school.
- Pros: Highly interactive, easy to use, and fun
- Cons: As students get older, there is less for them on Scratch
Click through to get started with Scratch.
Blockly
Format: Online Ages: 8+ years Cost: Free
Blockly teaches kids to code through a series of block programming puzzles. For each puzzle, kids drag and drop blocks of code to solve a specific challenge. Blockly is a simple tool created for children who have not had any prior experience with computer programming. Children need to be able to read independently to progress through the puzzles without adult assistance.
Click through to give Blockly a go.
Coursera
Coursera offers many free courses from many reputable universities where students can learn to code.
Why it’s great for kids: It’s designed for middle and high school children
- Pros: Wide variety of topics and offerings from awesome sources
- Cons: Might be challenging for a newer coding student
W3 Schools Online
This site offers free coding tutorials in many languages! It has robust information and it is totally free.
Why it’s great for kids: This site is great for kids that are 5th grade and up. They offer interactive queries where students can click and engage with the tutorial.
- Pros: Lots of variety within the site for coding languages
- Cons: Very reading heavy for younger students
Bit Degree
Bit Degree offers top-notch courses to prepare individuals for futures in progressive careers.
Why it’s great for kids: This program is designed for students ages middle school and up. It has a wide variety of options from beginner to advanced. If your child wants real-world preparation, this site is excellent.
- Pros: Many relevant career connections and teacher expertise
- Cons: High level might not be attractive to some students
edX
This site offers top university courses all in one place. It offers top-notch choices on design, data science, computer science and engineering, plus relevant experiences.
Why it’s great for kids: This site is good for kids ages middle school and up. It connects students to real-life applications of coding
- Pros: Explore lots of applications of computer science relevant to industry
- Cons: Lots of choices and levels might be intimidating
Khan Academy
Khan Academy offers basic tutorials in computer science that students can complete at their own pace. And they offer activities and videos to engage students.
Why it’s great for kids: Khan Academy is designed for kids ages middle school and up. This site is great because it is not intimidating, self-paced, and easy to read.
Codeable Crafts
- Type of Resource: iOS and Android mobile app
- Recommended Age Range: 3 to 8
- Necessary Coding Experience: None
- Skills Learned: Storytelling, animation, illustration, coding
Codeable Crafts provides easy-to-use tools that allow creative kids to create simple animations, drawings, and programs. This game introduces young learners to the most fundamental programming principles via simple, easy-to-understand code blocks.
Children can work on both their verbal and visual storytelling skills by creating story arcs based on general themes and app-prompted questions. Once they have coded to their hearts’ content, they can anonymously share the drawings and stories they have made.
The iOS- and Android-supported mobile app is suitable for kids who want to deep-dive into color, animation, and programming. Each pre-programmed coding block features a brief explanation to allow children to pick up the underlying programming principles.
Robot Turtles (Board Game)
- Type of Resource: Board game
- Recommended Age Range: 4 and up
- Necessary Coding Experience: None
- Skills Learned: Problem-solving, basic programming concepts
Want something a little more hands-on and off-screen? Robot Turtles is the most-backed board game in Kickstarter history; to date, it has empowered over 50 million customers worldwide to introduce kids to coding.
Geared towards players aged four and up, this intuitive board game is designed to develop kids’ critical thinking by stealthily introducing them to foundational programming principles such as coding and functions. Robot Turtles allows kids to write programs with brightly-illustrated playing cards and can be scaled up to higher difficulty levels as children gain more knowledge of programming basics.
Kids’ First Coding and Robotics Kit
- Type of Resource: Board game
- Recommended Age Range: 5 to 7
- Necessary Coding Experience: None
- Skills Learned: Robotics, coding, mathematics, adventure-based storytelling
Designed to teach the fundamentals of coding and robotics to children in grades K-2, the Kids’ First Coding and Robotics Kit requires no software, apps, or smart devices.
The game features an engaging, full-color 64-page manual that guides young players through exciting building lessons and programming exercises. Six different storylines are included, encompassing a plethora of model-building lessons for curious kids. Users build widgets on top of a plug-and-play coding block that scans for instructions before performing an exercise. With 38 different map cards included, kids can run increasingly complex programs that their self-built robot performs.
Each of the thirty coding lessons is aligned with teaching standards developed by the International Society for Technology and Education (ISTE), Code.org, and the CS Teachers Association.
Want a more mathematical version? This kit includes a special math mode that offers instruction in logic gates, number comparison, algorithms, and hands-on exploration.
Coding Tools for Children Aged 8 to 12
- Pros: Basic coding skills with an easily laid out format
- Cons: Not gamified much for younger students
Conclusion
Coding is a simple way for students to learn the basics of the most popular programming language and also enter the world of computer science and technology at an early age. Competitive edge: Students will be exposed to robotics, artificial intelligence and apps development through coding without actually knowing it. By teaching them coding you are teaching them how to think differently.