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Ask HN: Platform for kids to learn how to code

8 points by golanggeek 2 years ago · 8 comments · 1 min read


I’m trying to find a platform where my kids can start learning coding esp. that makes it more interesting and engaging for them.

ssgodderidge 2 years ago

Scratch.mit.edu is a highly-recommended place to start [1] https://scratch.mit.edu/

> Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children and a coding language with a simple visual interface that allows young people to create digital stories, games, and animations. Scratch is designed, developed, and moderated by the Scratch Foundation, a nonprofit organization. [2]

1: https://scratch.mit.edu/ 2: https://scratch.mit.edu/about

  • golanggeekOP 2 years ago

    Nice. Let me try that. I see this is more on the concepts, which is definitely something interesting for them.

    Any platform suggestions also for python programming for kids..

    • solardev 2 years ago

      It's not just about the concepts, there's a visual coder built in. It's real programming, just with a GUI.

      Isn't that more important than a particular language anyway? Probably by the time they grow up, some other language will be in vogue anyway. The language doesn't matter as much as generating excitement and engagement, I'd argue?

      • ssgodderidge 2 years ago

        +1 for this.

        I’d recommend the GUI aspect to keep the kids interested. It’s a way to see the impact of code immediately. It gives the kid a “problem” to solve and lets them see their solution. It removes the need for versioning, tooling, deploying, etc that can bog down new devs. Can’t really get any better than that, i’d argue

solardev 2 years ago

This is a list that a lot of HNers contributed to a few weeks ago: https://github.com/arcataroger/awesome-engineering-games#hac...

Some of the games in the hacking section might be kid friendly? 7 Billion Humans comes to mind, especially.

gtirloni 2 years ago

https://www.khanacademy.org/computing

brudgers 2 years ago

Randy Pausch's Alice: http://www.alice.org/

clyfe 2 years ago

http://kidsruby.com/

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