Programming for Kids: Services and Apps to Get You Started in Development
Only 15 minutes a day is enough for a child to get basic programming skills. This is facilitated by simple applications and services that develop logic, broaden horizons, form spatial and critical thinking.
There are applications for both the smallest, who are not yet familiar with mathematics and grammar, and for older ones, where you can master the text code and create your first project.
What are these fascinating applications and where to get them – let’s talk in today’s article.
Swift Playgrounds
The first app on our list is Swift Playgrounds. This is the development of Apple, which, according to the creators, is able to teach programming to any child.
The interactive interface helps beginners learn Swift, Apple’s programming language, and in the lessons offered, the guys write their own code to guide on-screen heroes through an exciting graphical world. There are also templates that allow you to create your own programs.
The application, unfortunately, is completely in English, so a basic knowledge of this language is required, but it’s worth it.
Age: from 13 years old
Cost: free
LightBot: Code Hour
An exciting game for the little ones, which will help form algorithmic thinking. The essence of the game is that you need to pave the way from the starting point of the robot to the burning plate. The difficulty is that you need to do this in a minimum number of steps, and to complete the task you need to use sequential commands.
The child will need a maximum of logic. To complete the game, you need to complete 20 different tasks – this is a free package. If desired, you can buy another 50 additional levels.
Age: 4 to 8 years old
Cost: free, there are paid levels
ScratchJr
ScratchJr is an introductory programming language for kids that helps them create their own interactive stories and games. Children bring the characters to life to move, jump, dance and sing. Children will learn how to solve problem situations, develop projects and creatively express their thoughts with the help of technology.
The essence of the game is that you need to control the character by dragging and connecting colored blocks. This is a good mathematical simulator, and the characters themselves can be changed and various equipment and animals can be added to the game.
Age: 4 to 8 years old
Cost: free
Piktomir
Pictomir helps to learn visual programming. Young programmers must help the robot pass all the tests. With the help of the application, children develop algorithmic thinking and get acquainted with the basics of programming, as well as train memory, perseverance and logic.
Age: 4 to 8 years old
Cost: free
SpriteBox
SpriteBox is a full blown adventure game that helps you quickly get to coding in a real programming language. Learning begins with icon controls, which then give way to text commands. Children solve puzzles and learn sequences, operations and cycles.
Age: 4 to 8 years old
Cost: free
learn programming
This is a complete interactive programming tutorial for those who are older. The application is designed for children from 13 years old, and its functionality allows you to learn up to 35 different languages, including frameworks. You can check your knowledge in the form of tests. For children, useful chips are available that will be useful in development.
Of the features – this is a built-in code editor in which you can write your first programs.
Age: from 13 years old
Cost: free
Code.org
This is a full-fledged service for learning programming, which is suitable for both schoolchildren and preschoolers. Among the partners of the site are such large companies as Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon. In the first lesson, Mark Zuckerberg explains why you need to learn to program at all.
The courses themselves are free, and passing them will allow you to understand the basics of programming and learn how the algorithm turns into JavaScript code.
Age: from 4 years old
Cost: free
Box Island
The most understandable mobile game in which you need to roam the island, overcome obstacles and collect stars. Teaching kids the basics of programming through sequences and loops is a great start. Box Island develops logical thinking, pattern recognition and memory.
Age: from 4 years old
Cost: free
Code Combat
Another service for learning programming, which is suitable for children of all ages. It contains interactive classes on Python and JavaScript, as well as the basics of computer science. Thanks to gamification, learning is easy and fun.
Age: from 4 years old
Cost: There is a free trial period for one lesson, paid plans start at $219 per week
Kodu Game Lab
Programming for kids who are interested in game development should start with this app. Kodu is Microsoft’s visual programming game. With it, the child will not only learn programming and design, but also create a real 3D game that can be played on PC or Xbox.
Age: from 4 years old
Cost: free
Tynker
Tynker is a complete platform that allows you to teach your child various programming languages: JavaScript, Python, as well as HTML and CSS. In total, Tynker has about 2,000 games, including topics on augmented reality and robotics.
The only disadvantage of the platform is that everything is in English, but many games require only minimal knowledge of English.
Age: from 4 years old
Cost: There is a free trial, paid starts at $15 per month
Grasshopper
Grasshopper is Google’s mobile game for learning JavaScript. Children learn to understand the basic concepts of programming through visual puzzles. A pretty green grasshopper helps them in this.
Age: from 13 years old
Cost: free
Snap!
Snap! is a cool service for kids that was developed by the staff of the California Institute at Berkeley. Visually, the programming environment resembles Scratch, and this is not surprising, since Snap! was created as an addition to this language.
One of the main features is the ability to create your own blocks, combining a sequence of commands into them, thanks to which you can develop subroutines and nested functions.
Unfortunately, the service is not Russified, but it is completely free.
Age: from 8 years old
Cost: free
Instead of a conclusion
Educational programming games for children is an opportunity to show a child a different reality. No one says that after such exciting applications and services, the child will immediately become a programmer, but he will certainly develop logic and memory, and 15 minutes a day is enough for this. The main thing is to instill interest 🙂