Coding is how we communicate with computers, the language that we speak with computers. While learning coding has long been regarded as one of the geekiest activities merely for the programmer. Yet, learning how to code does not mean that your kids have to become a programmer in the future. Indeed, coding benefits children in many ways!
Coding Enables Creativity
Thanks to the advanced development of technology, coding has become a creative fuel for kids to express themselves. Research reveals that around 3 million apps were created in European countries and over 800 million videos were created on YouTube. Through designing apps, it requires children to brainstorm ideas. This process allows kids to learn and strengthen their brains. Creativity is always encouraged in the process of programming.
Build Problem-solving Skills
At the early age of kids, children are exposed to the outside world. They may be very curious about how things work. Living in this digital age, learning coding can let your kids better understand things happening around them. It can help develop an appreciation of different inventions. Learning the basics of coding teaches kids to understand how software engineers tackle real-world problems in a logical and reasoning way. Coding helps to train kids to think about how to solve problems and overcome difficulties they face. It is an essential skill in general.
Develop Logical Thinking Skills
Coding is not simply about creating games and websites, it also teaches children how to think logically. Coding requires children to break down complex problems into various small parts to solve them effectively. Learning how to code facilitates students to develop computational thinking – from planning, decomposition, testing to debugging. It allows kids to plan for solutions step by step in a logical way.
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The earlier the better for kids to learn coding
Coding has a lot of benefits beyond gaining technical skills. But when should your kids start to learn to code? To develop kids with a whole round person, it is always better to start at their early age and prepare them for the future. Learning how to code can be started as early as their elementary years.
Teaching kids how to code can be done in their preschool period. There are many resources available for kids to start coding at their early age. As early as age 3, kids can build the basic concepts of coding. Here are some suggestions to guide you through how to kick start your kids’ coding journey!
How Can My Children Start Learning Coding?
Frankly speaking, kids can start learning coding from kindergarten. In particular, for kids who are at age 3-5. ScratchJr offers a much simpler interface for kids to manage where all the blocks are icon-based. It facilitates kids to learn foundational programming concepts before they can read. While for older kids at 6 or above, they can learn through the Scratch platform to have a larger room for creativity in building their games and apps.
While for kids who are 9 or above, kids are recommended to start learning programming languages like App Inventor. App Inventor is an educational programming platform developed by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). It is a great starter platform for kids to build fully functional apps for smartphones and tablets. This platform can prepare kids with a better understanding of app design and structure. Hence, kids can transit to more complicated and text-based programming languages like JavaScript easily.
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Kids Coding Class Recommendations
ScratchJR/ Scratch
For 3-5 years old children, some coding schools provide ScratchJR courses, with moving illustration and lovely cartoon characters, young kids can make their characters move or colour them with their finger tips, and get a good foundation of basic coding skills. For 6-8 kids, Scratch courses are recommended, students will be exposed to basic programming logic and syntax while creating their own animation or fun games.
App Inventor
Other than the mentioned courses, App Inventor courses are available for 9+ kids. Via the course, students will learn to build apps with sound, image, animation, and programming logics. The tutor will teach them to build intuitive gaming apps, functional apps or even music apps which can be launched on app stores for real!
Advanced Level
After mastering the basic coding skills, young people can try to attend web development courses or python courses which are all popular in recent years.
Original article:
The Ultimate Guide for Kids Coding Class
https://www.preface.ai/blog/others/coding-class-for-kids/